Restlife

Peter's Family Update December 2011

2011-12-01T21:47:00.000-08:00

Gail and Rick
One amazing answer to prayer is that Rick and I were able to talk to the pastor we've been working with about getting married! Yes, after several weeks here we discovered that hardly anybody is married in the church, they live together as "partners", have kids and everything!!!! So we prayed and prayed and felt God leading us to talk to them. We had mentioned something to the pastors "wife" ....turns out they are open to getting married and understand that God hasn't given the church power because of this area of disobedience! They said they will have a group wedding in December. We told them we want to be there for that, because I have formed nice friendships with a few of the women in that category, so maybe we can come up here again to be at that wedding. This is a huge answer to prayer! God is good! Anyway, that is why I got off so fast last night, a very exhausting day. Another amazing thing is we have been participating in many church services and offered to pray for people, and last night since it is our last Sunday service here, we invited people to come up for prayer either for salvation or for struggles in following God, but when people came up, we just waited, and a few women in the church went and prayed for people! We had been realizing the need for that since we are on our way out, the church needs to rise up and meet those needs. A topic for prayer, though is that no men went to pray for a man, so one of our team members had to pray for him. Anyway, that is just one day of what God is doing.   Please cut and paste this and share it as praise and prayer for anyone interested, as I haven't been able to keep up with detailed communication...  Another prayer request...we have 6 days left here and we had wanted to visit every house to share the gospel tract we developed, but when we've gone out, it has been very slow going and is taking a long time, so we need a strategy to get it out there. Maybe God wants us to be more selective about which houses we visit? We are asking, but if you can pray too, that would be great...Thanks! When we leave on Sunday morning, we will take 3-4 days to drive back, one of those days will be a day off to visit some amazing National Park with camping...when we get to Perth Maddie will be there! No Cam, though. I still haven't heard from him since he went to Burma, the brat! Well, that's all for now, Gail

The following day Cameron posted the following; (keeping in mind that Cameron is quite capable of yanking our chains!) I think he’s serious though.

Cameron Luke Peters Yea we are! And yes it's crazy. I've never been so scared for my life. We've had to run from secret police so many times already. It reminds me of Sacramento in that respect. But I'm really scared of getting caught cuz I heard Burmese prisons are really intense. But hopefully god continues to protect us! See ya soon ;)

Maddie Peters – Here is the link to her blog if you haven’t seen it. http://camperkong.tumblr.com/

Boling Update December 2011

2011-12-01T21:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! What a wonderful time of the year to celebrate all that the Lord has done and continues to do in our lives!

It was a tragedy of titanic proportions! At first only a small amount of icy water began to trickle in. As the opening enlarged, water began to gush into the room. Some jumped out of the escape hatch into the cold air. Others ran to one side of the room as the water rose higher. Others tried to climb atop wooden structures. The still air was filled with the cacophony of their pleas for help. No one heard them in their death throes. Finally, the dim morning light revealed the macabre scene: water pouring out of a previously frozen pipe, 26 chickens in rigor mortis, and 63 others in a rather excited state!

Our students also remain in a rather excited state with somewhat of a sinking feeling as they realize E-TRAX (the ESL program) is coming to an end in only a few short weeks. It has been a joy to see not only their improvement in speaking English, but also the spiritual growth in their lives.

One of our students, Luis Diego, is the Costa Rican national director for the mission International Teams. One of his goals was to improve his listening ability so he could understand more on skype calls with other international leaders. He excitedly began to tell me about one of these recent calls. “So you understood every word?” I interrupted. “Actually,” he answered, “this is the first time that I could really follow the conversation at all!” Luis also shared that God has been changing the direction of his life through the time he has been at Gateway. We rejoice to see how God is preparing leaders like Luis to be more effective.

PRAISE! For Laurie’s parents’ help in the transport of the rest of our furniture and household goods from southern California. For the spiritual growth of our students and their increasing ability to speak English. For completion of a seminar on Christian coaching. This will help us be more effective as we work
with our students to help them reach their goals and fulfill the plan God has for their lives.

PLEASE PRAY:
For our visa application to be approved before the current expiration of our visa in January.
For our continued transition into the role of directors. We continue to take on increased responsibilities.
For the successful conclusion of our ESL program. We officially finish December 16, but will have a graduation on the ninth for some students who will be leaving early. For the many preparations necessary for the missiology program in the spring.
For good health. Several staff and students have been ill this winter. Laurie has some major dental work that needs to be done.

We thank God for the privilege of training students to successfully live and minister overseas! We are thankful to you who have joined with us in prayer and support of our ministry! May your heart be full of joy in this season!

On pilgrimage,
Mike and Laurie

Boling's Update

2011-07-15T14:26:00.001-07:00

we will enjoy four months' transition and learning from the current Director couple! Ike and Trudy had planned a study leave of absence and were praying for replacements to finish out their triennial term. We wholeheartedly trust God will work His wisdom through the giftings He's been developing in us for exactly this time! The logical plan for language study and Africa was ours - Gateway, all along, was His. It's good, and we're grateful.
Our cross-cultural students who have been out on internships around the world these past months are due to return next week for their final class and graduation on July 22nd. They will bring with them stories of what life is like in Cambodia, South Africa, Korea, Pasadena (!), and the Laotian community of nearby Surrey. Yet the halls have not been empty (or quiet!). From 4 mission agencies, we now have 5 Mexicans, 2 Costa Ricans, 2 Germans, and 2 Koreans bringing their worlds to us as they enjoy learning English (E-Trax) and studies at a local Bible college (B-Trax). Half of these folks will stay on for the missiology program (Trax) in January. There is such variety and warmth in this group! Focused destinations for ministry will be El Salvador, Southern Asia, the Middle East, and (back to) Costa Rica.
Laurie joyfully continues sorting applications and doing the finances in the office, helping out only one day in the kitchen. Mike shares the English class components with Jean and monitors the Trax internships. Both of us enjoy individual half-hour conversation times with at least 5 students during the week. And prayer and fellowship all around!

Is Restoration Life on the Leading Edge?

2011-07-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

Restoration Life has always pushed to find new ways to go into the community and show them God is alive. From Park Days to Halloween on T Street to Love Inc to Convoy of Hope and the East Sac Project we have found success in serving. We were recently asked by the organizers of Lois Palau to help with the season of service initiative in 2012. The article below is further evidence that churches need to be working together in the community.

11 for 11: Ideas That Work • Fast Forwarding Your Church’s Community Engagement 2
The Austin Stone Community Church,
Austin, TX (www.austinstone.org),
bought a defunct building in an underresourced part of its city, established
a counseling center and other social
services in the building—and over
50 church members moved into the
declining neighborhood.
Peninsula Covenant Church, Redwood
City, CA (www.peninsulacovenant.
com), one of the largest Protestant
churches in the Palo Alto area, is
blending its upper-end neighborhood
with a poor community just across
the street. The church has become so
involved in the community with its
Serve the Peninsula Collaboration of
government and city leaders that pastor
John Siebert was elected to the City
Council.
A Methodist church in Hattiesburg,
Mississippi, moved its Vacation Bible
School to a public school that it has
been serving—with the full blessing
of the school system. Church leaders
told the parents of church kids, “Our
VBS is at the school this year—in the
poorest part of town.”
These churches and others like them
are pioneering a shift in leaders who
are truly engaging their communities
in mission. These churches are not
only deploying their own members for
service; they are engaging with people
who aren’t part of their church, but
who are attracted to rolling up their
sleeves to bless the community.
These on-mission churches look
not only to their own resources
and ideas for the community; they
are strategically engaging with
other churches and non-church
organizations. These churches
are moving from ministry for the
community and in the community, to
ministry with the community.
We know how to do ministry for
the community: we’re doing this for
you. The missional conversation the
past few years has moved church
leaders more into ministry in the
community—outside our church
walls. This new movement is a rise in
churches that are working shoulderto-shoulder in partnership with the
community—across multiple domains
of business, education, health care,
social service and government—to
transform a city.
Metrics
• More Americans are pursuing
spirituality outside of traditional,
organized contexts.
11 for 11: Ideas That Work
by Reggie McNeal
Fast Forwarding Your Church’s
Community Engagement11 for 11: Ideas That Work • Fast Forwarding Your Church’s Community Engagement 3
More than one in i ve Americans who
say they are absolutely sure about
believing in God virtually never attend
church, according to the massive
research Robert Putnam published
in his recent book, American Grace
(page 473).
1
Further, Gallup polls see
near record high in the percentage of
people who say that religion is losing
its inl uence in America.
2
Also notice
the dramatic rise in recent years of the
“nones”
3
– the now 14% of Americans
who say they have no religious
afi liation, yet half of whom believe in
God and the Bible. To me, studies like
this afi rm why missional engagement
beyond the walls of traditional church
real estate and programming is the path
to the future. We’ve got to i gure out
how to help people “be church” who
cannot or will not go to church as it
exists now.
• Participation in service is increasing.
While we’re losing ground when it
comes to attracting people to our
worship services, what I call an
altruism economy is attracting our
friends to works of service. Just look
around. American Idol can raise
millions for a good cause in one night.
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are
giving away billions and encouraging
their mega-rich colleagues to do the
same. Charitable giving in the U.S. now
tops $300 billion a year.
So invite your neighbors or co-workers
to church, and they may say “no”—no
matter how sexy your sax player or
how cool your smoke machine. But
invite them to serve alongside you at the
local school next Saturday, and they’re
more likely to say “yes,” and to ask if
the whole family can come too!
Trends
• Missional churches are engaging
non-believers as part of their labor
force.
I was encouraging the staff at Cathedral
of Joy, Richland, WA (www.cojchurch.
com), to market beyond church insiders
for their community and global
engagement efforts, and their youth
pastor backed me up with a great story.
He had just met his neighbor, who was
sort of intrigued that he was a youth
pastor. But when the pastor talked
about an upcoming church trip to
Central America to dig water wells,
the neighbor really perked up: “That
sounds like something I’d like to do.
Can I go?” Little did the youth pastor
know, the guy volunteering for this
Christian mission trip is an Egyptian
Muslim. Wouldn’t it be just like God
to hijack an Egyptian Muslim with a
tender heart, and throw him in with a
bunch of Christians for 10 days? The
neighbor came back later and said, “I
just called my sister in Chicago and
she’d like to go on that trip, too.” He is
already an evangelist.
Helping people have abundant lives
motivates people. I tell church leaders
to think beyond their members for
their service corps. Every one of your
folks who participates in that weekend
of service could easily bring three
neighbors or co-workers and get them
engaged in the community; they’re
often wide open to this.
• Missional churches are increasingly
working in cross-domain collaboration.
Churches on the move in their
communities realize that true city
transformation is too big for one
church, or even a conglomerate of
churches, to tackle. Real change
around deep problems takes
partnership and collaboration across
multiple domains: churches and other
ministries, social services, businesses,
schools, hospitals, and governments.
Crossroads Community Church,
Cincinnati, OH (www.crossroads.net),
is leading four other churches and i ve
non-proi t agencies to build a one-stop
social service mall called CityLink
(www.citylinkcenter.org) that will offer
housing, job assistance, and health care
to needy families.
Fellowship Church, Dallas, TX
(www.fellowshipdallas.org), provides
a Refugee Empowerment Pathway
for dozens of refugees living nearby
the church—including helping them
enroll in college and paying for their
i rst semester. 3e, McKinney, TX
(www.3emckinney.com), is a group of
30 churches that delivers food every
weekend to more than 800 elementary
school children.
WoodsEdge Church, Houston, TX
(www.woodsedge.org), partners
with a secular organization that
runs an apartment complex for
women with HIV/AIDS. Momentum
A group of volunteers from Crossroads
Church working with other community
organizations on “Go Cincinnati” a oneday, service project designed to impact the
city.11 for 11: Ideas That Work • Fast Forwarding Your Church’s Community Engagement 4
Church, Cincinnati, OH (www.
momentumchurch.com), has chosen
a local elementary school to serve—
which, by the way, is one of the
most impactful and fail-proof ways
for any church to get engaged in the
community.
• Church leaders are gaining a
better understanding of community
development.
Political opponents made fun of
President Obama for his background
as a community developer. But I’m
telling pastors they need to become
community developers if they want
their church to make the difference it
should. The church is already deployed
across all the domains I mentioned
earlier. We already have people in
politics and education and health
care and in business. The church is
deployed across all domains, and is in
a unique position to call a party for
the city to focus on healing itself. No
one else is positioned like that.
Christ Church United Methodist,
Birmingham, AL (www.
christchurchtv.org), identii ed the
poorest part of the city and made a
25-year commitment to serve that
part of their community. That’s real
community development, not just a
drive-by event. When you commit to
25 years of efforts in a needy part of
town, you can develop some metrics
that measure long-term impact. You
can commit to raising graduation
rates and reducing hunger. Titus
County Cares (www.tituscountycares.
org), which distributes more than
1,000 backpacks of food to kids
every weekend, reports that school
attendance is up and visits to the
school nurse are down. They believe
that will eventually lead to higher
graduation rates and less prison time.
Questions
• What will the new scorecard look
like?
Missional ministry requires a different
scorecard than churches have used
in the past. This scorecard goes
beyond the traditional benchmarks
of buildings, budgets and butts in the
seats. In this new missional world,
there are dynamic metrics that can
measure a church’s effectiveness in the
community. Measures might include:
- How many backpacks were delivered
for a weekend supply of food?
- How much money is the church
giving away?
- How many life coaches are deployed
outside the church?
- How many volunteer hours are
church members logging outside the
walls?
- How many cross-domain
collaborations is the church engaged
with?
A revamped scorecard also means
resource reallocation—our prayer,
time, people, money, facilities and
technology. How would prayer, and
money and time be redirected for
community development? And once
you change the scorecard, you change
the game. What gets rewarded gets
done. Once you change what you’re
celebrating, you get more of that.
• How do we learn to collaborate
across domains?
Unfortunately, churches have a spotty
history of true collaboration across
multiple domains in a community.
We’re not very good at collaboration,
because we want to be the show. If
we want to drive the ideas and staff it
with our people and invite people into
the presence we’ve created, we may be
missing cross-domain collaboration in
the process.
Real collaboration goes beyond selling
a great idea to the city, and getting
them to give us resources. We need to
i gure out how to convene and create
cross-domain partners, not just targets
or functional users. We don’t need to
reinvent the wheel, or put our efforts
solely under our own label. Whatever
needs to get done in a community,
there are probably community agencies
already there. Why aren’t we i guring
out how to get behind the Salvation
Volunteering in schools and community centers is one of the most impactful and failproof ways for any church to get engaged in its community.11 for 11: Ideas That Work • Fast Forwarding Your Church’s Community Engagement 5
Army, for instance, to care for the
homeless? That’s the collaborative
mentality.
Predictions
• We will see the rise of city churches.
If churches get serious about truly
engaging their communities, thinking
outside their own membership for
their work force, collaborating across
multiple domains and banding together
to get the job done, we will see the rise
of city churches—churches of all shapes
and sizes networking together for city
transformation.
Christ Together (www.christ together.
com) is an emerging network of
churches in the Chicago area that
initially came together to pray for
the city. Currently, there are leaders
from more than 180 Chicagoland
churches that are interested in working
together, rather than view each other
as competitors. Scott Chapman, the
leader that helped spark this movement
in Chicago, says he has invitations
from leaders in 16 cities to explore
similar city church efforts.
I believe this is a movement of the
Spirit, like scales falling from people’s
eyes. God seems to be having a
different conversation with the church
about its role in the world. There is a
rise of Kingdom consciousness vs. mychurch-only awareness. Church leaders
are developing a non-church-centric
view of God’s Kingdom—where we
understand that Kingdom is about
street life and bringing abundant life
where people are. We are becoming
more willing to pitch our fortune and
future with the community.
This movement will convene the
church around service—not around
politics or around being a moral
watchdog for the community—but
around loving your neighbor. The
spirit is calling us out to be church
better, not do church bette

Campbell's Soup Comes Through

2011-06-17T16:16:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

I just wanted to let everyone know about a wonderful contribution that God has made available for our event. Over the last couple of days, I have been coordinating a large donation through Campbell’s Soup (Thanks for the heads up Marianne and Robin). Paty Sandoval, Executive Assistant, informed me that they would like to donate 20 pallets (1600 cases) of soup for our event. That equates to a full 53’ trailer of product. If that wasn’t enough, Paty also mentioned that they have up to 15,000 cases of soup and we are welcome to as much or as little as we want. In doing the math, just for fun, that measures out to 187 pallets or nine 53’ trailers of soup. THAT”S A LOT OF SOUP.

Now there’s no way we could manage that much product. But we could certainly manage one or two trailers. I am in the process right now of scheduling the pickup and delivery with UPS. Paty has placed our donation pickup for Tuesday June 21 between 7am and 10am. Terry Bohlmann and I have already worked out the details for delivery out at the Lincoln warehouse. We are anticipating a drop-off between 1 and 2pm on the 21st. There could be a second pick and drop but I will schedule that at a later date. We might need a few volunteers to help with the drop-off the day of.

Day 40 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

The Greatest Story Ever Told

What was the secret to Billy Graham’s success at leading people to Jesus Christ? In His autobiography he explains that he was not the most talented of preachers. He spoke plainly and relied heavily on reading Scripture passages directly from the bible. But one thing Billy always did was tell the story of Jesus who lived and died and rose again. You will never be able to convince people to respond, but if you tell the story it will draw people to Christ. Jesus Himself said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to Myself.” John 12:32

Don’t ever stop telling the story…

Day 39 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-26T11:00:00.001-07:00

Sustainable Plans

So, how many times have you decided you were going to turn over a new leaf, make a change or be a more faithful Christian? As the old saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” OK, so you are not going to hell, but you get the point. Good intentions are not the same as good deeds. Has the 40 Days of Focus on Evangelism changed your thinking? Are you willing to adopt a daily plan for evangelism? How will you sustain it? What makes you think you will not go back to your old lazy ways? The following are some keys to sustaining your commitment. If you follow these you have a good chance of success.

KEY ONE: TRIGGER
You must have something to remind you
Whether it’s brushing your teeth or tying your shoes, choose something you do every day and ask God to remind you during that activity to pray.

KEY TWO: ACCOUNTABILITY
If you forget, who will know? Find one person or share with your small group. Decide how often they should ask you how your evangelism is going. Choose someone who is reliable.

KEY THREE: FRESHNESS
Keep your own spiritual life fresh and exciting. Allow God to show you His might by stepping out in faith and taking risks. Stay in fellowship with the Church. A stale gospel is not likely to leave the shelf it sits on. The manna God gave the Israelites lasted only one day and the manna He gives you won’t last much longer.

Day 38 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-26T10:58:00.001-07:00

Recap

What did we learn during our 40 Day Journey? We certainly covered a lot of ground. Sometimes we get lost when there’s too much to focus on so as we conclude the journey let’s remove as much as we can and focus on the highlights. When I use google maps I often find the close-up to be of little help until I have pulled back and recovered my bearings. So, let’s back up to an aerial view of Evangelism as we recap our journey.

Evangelism is a Lifestyle not an Event

Many of us don’t evangelize because we have a wrong view of what it means and this produces a fear of the unknown that keeps us paralyzed. We must change our thinking to unlock a new plan of evangelism.

STEP ONE: Pray daily by name for soft soil + opportunity +boldness (you may need a trigger to remind you).
STEP TWO: As you are going… share when God places the opportunity in front of you (there are not coincidences with God in charge).
STEP THREE: Demonstrate the Gospel with your actions not just words.
STEP FOUR: Always invite people to places where they can hear the truth.
STEP FIVE: Know how to explain the gospel to someone who is ready to receive it.

Most Christians never lead a single person to faith in Jesus Christ during their lifetime. If you will faithfully share Jesus according to the plan above you will have the amazing privilege of leading many people to Jesus in the years to come.

Renee Brown's Story

2011-04-22T08:16:00.000-07:00

The following story is from Renee Brown who began attending Restoration Life when her schooling brought her to Sacramento State University. She has been actively involved in small groups and adult education as well as serving withing the church body and in service to the community.

There could be no testimony without the abundant grace of a loving Father and His immeasurable faithfulness. To Him be the glory.

I was raised in a wonderful, loving home and was taught at a young age the importance of faith and obedience. As the youngest of seven children in a proud Catholic family - this was my identity. I was so proud to be a member of this family who dutifully followed the teaching of the church. However my identity was shaken when I was about 10 years old. You see, my eldest brother and his young family left Catholicism for a nondenominational Christian Church. His leaving was followed shortly thereafter by my next eldest brother and sister. This brought incredible tension in my family, to the point of not being able to gather without intense fighting. To a ten year old, whose identity was her family, the word had shaken, and as I saw my family being torn apart over religion, I decided I wanted nothing to do with it.

Years later, after dutifully obeying my Catholic upbringing and feeling that I had a decent relationship with God, I fell in love with and married a wonderful and "safe" traditional Catholic man. As we began our life together, I began to see that our spiritual life was lacking. We weren't faithful to attend church until the kids came along and then just so they could be sure to receive the sacraments as scheduled, like clockwork. I even taught catechism and played my part of active parishioner. But as the years went by I began to realize how shallow my relationship with God was. The question, "Are you saved Auntie?" from my young nephew made me defensive and I had a certain uneasy feeling around my Christian siblings.

We struggled financially and my dreams of being a stay at home mom were always tearing at me. I began to realize how superficial our life was. It was all about pleasing others, or doing the right thing. On the outside we "looked" like the perfect family. It was extremely lonely and burdensome at the same time. Shortly after purchasing our first home (after 10 years of marriage and 10 different apartments) I couldn't take the falsehood and emptiness anymore. I began to seek out a relationship with God. I was going to make things better. I began to read Christian books, attened bible studies outside the church and consult with my siblings who I could see living genuine lives of Christianity. My husband did not understand my desire for change - why fix something that wasn't broken. Sure we weren't living the dream, but things were ok. I was alone. I have always been self-sufficient and independent but I was not strong enough for this. I became bitter and became angry at my husband's indifference.

I couldn't even tell you what exactly it was anymore that pushed me over the edge but I finally broke. One day after working and picking up the girls from school I came home, shut my bedroom door and cried. Before I knew it I was on the floor crying out to God, pouring out my false hopes and dreams, admitting my guilt, asking forgiveness and pleading with him to not let me go. I was finally in submission to my Father, on His terms; it wan't about what I could do anymore.

My pursuit of God changed on that day and He filled me with His Spirit. He gave me a contentment I had never known and I passionately began reading His word. My husband noticed the difference and told me we were not going to church hop and he was not interested in becoming a pastor (as 2 of my brothers had and 2 others are elders in their churches). Sadly, he won't even pick up the Bible, but I am not discouraged because God has something beautiful planned for our family and will reveal it in His time. We still attended the Catholic Church as I felt it was important to worship God as a family not divided. However, now when I taught catechism, I emphasized the personal relationship with God and living out our faith.

Several years later God opened the door for me to go back to school. I didn't think the timing was right, but He had other plans and things moved forward. I am now just months away from graduating and as I look back, I am moved to tears to see His hand throughout this journey. There were so many times that I was overwhelemed and didn't think I would finish. I would cry out to God in my weakness, or pray that if he would shut the door I would still love Him. I prayed to know and love His plan, not my own and each time He confirmed and provided in ways that only He could. He has used this season to grow my faith and trust in Him and I am so humbled to experience this and so thankful for the protection He has provided over my family.

Through this experience He has been showing me that my true identity is as His daughter, in His image, and to not settle for less. I have fought my whole life with insecurity, shyness and feelings of inadequacy (hence the tendency to self-sufficiency and independence). Yet one by one through this journey He has broken me of these lies of the world. I still struggle with my fears and daily go in submission to him. But I know He is in control. I believe He has been preparing me for a plan I do not yet know, and so I press forward each day pursuing Him.

My testimony is not one that would turn heads, but is a journey that others may relate to. I have been blessed immeasurably by a most gracious, loving, and faithful God. I have a husband who loves me, and two beautiful daughters who are growing in their relationship with their heavenly father - deeply and personally, not out of rules of obedience.

On a side note it is interesting that recently I was asked to pray for and encourage a young mother who has a passion for Jesus but is struggling because her husband is noncommittal in his faith or role in leading the family. It is strange that God would use one of my own struggles to allow me to meet someone else's need, and humbling that someone would see God's victory in an area still being worked out. Praise God!

Day 37 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

Inviting My Neighbors to Easter

Is Easter really so offensive that we have to pretend it doesn’t exist? My family is getting together for a nice celebration dinner Sunday after church. When we called to invite one of my family members they were not able to come because they were already booked with an appointment for dog obedience classes. I could hardly imagine it… Easter Sunday people were going to just carry on like it was another Sunday with no observing Easter at all? How could that happen? Is America forgetting Easter?

So, I know it might not be well received but I feel convicted to do it. I’m going to write each of my neighbors that I’ve been praying for and invite them to come to church on Sunday. It’s quite likely that none of them will come. Yet I feel like I must invite them. This Sunday is Easter. Even if none of them decide to join us, at least they won’t forget. Worse than skipping church on Easter is forgetting it’s Easter completely.

Day 36 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-21T08:26:00.001-07:00

Relational

From the very beginning of Church history we read of both mass responses to the gospel message as Peter preached on Pentecost as well as individual conversions like when Peter said to the lame man, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” I have often said that I don’t like mass invitations like altar calls as much as personal evangelism because once you have responded to the gospel you need to also have a relationship with the Church. Christianity is highly relational. You can believe alone but you cannot be the Church alone. Church takes relationship. Discipleship takes relationship. There are numerous “one another” passages in the New Testament. If God meant us to do Christianity in relationship with other Christians, how do we get mass evangelism Christians into meaningful relationships? What happens when people respond to the gospel message but never get connected in relationship? If a person becomes a Christian in the context of a personal conversation aren’t they already much closer to relationship than those who respond to a mass altar call? How does the attractional model of church foster isolation in Churches? Is this a good enough reason to stop doing mass evangelism? Why or why not?

Day 35 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-19T21:34:00.001-07:00

Altar Call

So, do altar calls really work? I’ve met many people over the years who began their relationship with Jesus after responding to an altar call. In fact, on the day I write this I am reminded that I had the opportunity to lead three people to Christ today that responded to a call from the pulpit to trust Christ. Pastor Glenn Cole, who are have deep respect for, has been a very successful pastor in our City for several decades. Recently he shared with a group of pastors seven things he’s learned over the years and one of them was that he always ends each service with an altar call. If people are not given an opportunity to respond to the Word of God, then the preacher has not finished preaching. What do you think of altar calls. Should they be done every week? Are they an effective way to share the gospel? Should they be repeat after me style or meet with a person who will explain things one on one? Should they raise their hand or come to the front? Should they just come up after the service and let you know they prayed?

Day 34 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-18T11:51:00.001-07:00

Easter Sunday

O.K. so your neighbors and co-workers don’t go to church on Easter. What does it feel like to hear about Easter and know that it’s a really big deal around the world and yet not understand why? I’d like to hear from some of you who could answer that question from experience. I was raised in the Church and we always celebrated Easter and Christmas as special times of remembrance. But what does it feel like when Easter is only about frilly dresses and plastic eggs and a bunny that brings them? Where did the idea of eggs and bunnies come from? It seems a bit empty to make such a big deal over the commercialized version of Christmas and Easter. Do non-church attenders feel a curiosity about why these holidays are so important to Christians? It is the story of Jesus death and resurrection that make all of life make sense. It’s how we understand the brokenness that is all around us and even inside us. It’s also the hope that the cycle of brokenness will one day have a happy ending when Jesus sets everything right again. Is it possible that inviting a friend, neighbor or co-worker to Church this Easter is just what they are waiting for?

Day 33 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-18T11:50:00.001-07:00

Invites to Events

Is it easier to invite someone to accept Christ or to invite someone to Church? What about inviting them to join you on a service project to care for those in need? Sometimes inviting people to come to Jesus is as simple as inviting them to see the Body of Christ at work. Whether you invite someone to join in a church service or community service they will have an opportunity to see and hear the gospel if they will just come. For decades Billy Graham was famous for holding crusades where thousands would come to hear him boldly declare a gospel message. Why didn’t these people just share the gospel with their friends? Why did they drive all the way to a stadium where Billy told them about Jesus? One of the easiest ways to share Jesus with a friend is to bring them to a place where the gospel will be preached.

Day 32 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

Convoy of Hope

When our church was asked to lead Convoy of Hope last year my first question was, “How does this event share the truth of the gospel?” We all know there are people in our City who need food and health care but they need it 52 weeks of the year and even then, they need much more than physical care. Is it worth it to do a massive event that takes months of planning for people to get loved for one day? Convoy of Hope takes nearly 100 churches and thousands of dollars to pull off.

I was very happy to hear that every person who comes to Convoy of Hope for food is greeted by a trained volunteer who asks, “Can I pray for you?” The largest tent is set up for prayer and hundreds at a time receive prayer for whatever need they share. By this time they have been given heaps of love from Christian volunteers and have opened the door to their spiritual needs. The last thing we ask each person before they get their bag of groceries is, “Has anyone ever explained to you how you can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?” Every person who makes a first time commitment to Jesus then gets a follow-up phone call to invite them to a local church. Convoy of Hope is more than a one-day event. It’s an opened door to eternal life.

Amy Krause Testimony

2011-04-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

The following real life story is from Amy Krause in her own words and is shared with you to give glory to God. He is real. He is good and He is still doing miracles.

I feel like I am this prodigy of your sermons the last few weeks. You have been talking about our testimony, our part of God’s story, and how we are to share about it. How we are to look for miracles and see how God is working- that the only miracles are not in the Bible, but are happening every day. That we are to LIVE out the faith we claim to have.

I mentioned to you in my last email that God has taken Erik and I places we would have never imagined and asked us to do things I would have never dreamed of. I didn’t want to launch into the whole story as you poor thing, have no idea who we are and I didn’t want to come barreling in….however, God keeps nudging me and I’m beginning to realize that He won’t stop until I chose to obey. So, the latest miracle in the Krause household….

I was trying to pretend in the service Sunday morning that I didn’t hear God speaking those words from your announcement in my ear. I was trying to get Liza situated and listening out of one ear to your announcement, when you repeated what was going to be prayed for at the prayer service that night when I felt like God was speaking those words right into my ear. I disregarded it, not considering going to a prayer meeting at a church that we had only begun to go to. Following the service at lunch that day, Erik told me that Ned was talking about going, but wasn’t sure if he’d go and that I should call him and ask him to go with me. I told him I was too much of a wimp to do that- we hadn’t been going to the church long enough to go. Of course I call Dena to relay this conversation and she told me she had just had the SAME conversation with Ned- that she had told Ned that he should call me and go with me. I figured if I could pray about getting well from home and it wasn’t working, what would make it work if I went to this service. I also wondered if I went and someone told me I was healed and go home (like it happened in the Bible all the time), would I walk out of there believing that?? Finally I confessed to her that I had already had this whole conversation with myself and that I couldn’t believe I was willing to outright disobey God and NOT GO because of my insecurity. She told me that she wondered what God had planned that wasn’t going to happen because someone wasn’t going to go that night…..Before our conversation was over, Ned yelled out that he would see me at 5 pm.

I prayed against my doubt the entire drive over to the building- knowing that for sure this prayer thing would never work because of this doubt. I knew in my heart that this was going to be a significant event in my relationship with God because He was asking me to step out in faith- I kept hearing that phrase you had preached about living out what I have been worshipping Him for….even writing this email is a huge act of obedience as I am fighting off the lies that are telling me you are going to think I am some crazy gal coming in with this crazy story!

I told Ned when we were walking in that I was sure I had pneumonia and this sinus infection because I was so beat down, but that I wasn’t going to ask for prayer twice- once for physical and another for emotional- I was just going to go for the physical healing.

After literally shaking in my little flip flops as I went and plopped my chair in the middle of the group, the gal that came to pray for me (you’ll have to tell me her name because I can’t remember what she told me- she is this little bit of a thing with a tall white husband, they have 4 kids….) was incredible. She asked what to pray for, I told her I had had pneumonia and a sinus infection I couldn’t shake. As she started praying, I felt this warmth flood in from the top of my head, wash all the way down through my toes. Then she bent down and says to me that the Lord had told her I wasn’t sleeping at night- she asked if I’d had trouble sleeping. At this point, I had tears streaming down my face because God was so good- telling this woman what I was too insecure to put out there… I had JUST started taking Melatonin at night because I’d been waking up for hours at night! She asked if I was carrying a burden and told me the Lord wanted to take that burden, that it wasn’t for me to carry. She asked me what it was. I told her yes, I was in fact beat down emotionally.

So back to praying she went. Behind me, Dani Jamie reached over me and turned my hands palm up and lifted them up…encouraging me to lift it up, let it go. The same warmth that had washed through me, came back up from my toes and out my hands, taking that burden with it.

It was an amazing experience…and to think, I was willing to disobey God’s prompting and miss out on this, which He had planned for me, I cringe to think about it. I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit’s continual prompting and for the prayer team’s obedience in preparing for this time.

Day 31 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

East Sac Home Makeover

The Home Makeover Project is one of my favorite example of sharing the gospel in a language people in our community understand. People who live in East Sacramento are often closed to hearing about Jesus Christ. Most have already heard many things from people who claim to be Christians and feel like they have either rejected Christianity on solid grounds or have accepted Christianity. The people in our community are fairly well travelled and educated. They have material comfort and tend to resist changing views on religion. Most understand Christianity to be a religion based on good works and they feel God will count them in the “good” category. If there is a God, they feel sure He would accept them on their own merits.

The East Sac Project gives us an opportunity to share the gospel in the context of taking what is broken and making it new. We ask for nothing in return and give everything for free. It’s a beautiful modern day example of the gospel that speaks to our community in a language they understand. People in our community highly value taking something old and broken and restoring it. They pay good money for this to be done on their houses and cars. What does the East Sac Project communicate to you? Are there other ways we can communicate unconditional love to our community that speaks the truth of the gospel in a language they understand?

Day 30 - 40 Days of focus: Evangelism

2011-04-15T09:37:00.001-07:00

Restlife’s Social Gospel Calendar

Restoration Life began with a vision to see a day when every person who lives in the Heart of the City has heard the gospel in a language they understand, knows where to find a healthy, life-giving church and has the means to get there. What does it mean to share the gospel in a language people understand? It means more than speaking Spanish or Arabic. It means touching people with real love and real compassion by showing, not just saying.

For this reason we have always committed to being a go and show church and not a come and see church. We go into the community and show people God is alive by serving as well as declaring the gospel. We have done park days, Halloween events, Christmas caroling, home makeovers, carnivals, Christmas craft fairs, face painting at Pops in the Park, pancake breakfasts, movie nights,Convoy of Hope, Love INC. Is it enough? Should we do more? Is it too much?

Day 29 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-13T07:24:00.000-07:00

The Cost of the Social Gospel

As the old saying goes, “Talk is cheap.” If someone is in pain, under stress or feeling lost we can say to them, “Jesus loves you and so do I,” but what will that communicate? The Social Gospel requires much more from us than our words. To get involved in bringing hope and healing to those who are hurting or to advocate for those who are abused takes a tremendous amount of energy. It is that very burden that communicates so clearly that we love others as Christ loves us. What would it cost to create a house for girls trapped in sex slavery or a discipleship house for fatherless young men? What would it cost to care for widows and orphans? What would it cost to offer divorce recovery, parenting classes, finance classes, addiction recovery, exercise classes and the list goes on? Maybe a better question is, what are we willing to sacrifice?

Day 28 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-12T16:46:00.001-07:00

Social Gospel Balance

How do we find the right balance between the social issues and needs of our community and the proclamation of truth? Is it worth delivering stuff to people’s houses through Love INC even if we don’t share Jesus with them? Does having the name Jesus in the title make it evangelism? Do we run the risk of a bait and switch label if we do something good only when there is an opportunity to tell people what the bible says about Jesus? If we volunteer with Starbucks to paint a local elementary school and we show up as a church are we doing evangelism even if we never say the name of Jesus or hand anything out? Can we chalk some of that up to preparing the ground for future evangelism or does their always need to be a proclamation with the needs bases ministry?

It’s easy to ask the questions, but more difficult to answer them. The best answer is found in Jesus Christ. Why did He heal and serve? Was it sometimes just to bring relief? Was it for a future opportunity? Jesus always combined healing with proclaiming and so should we. Our love should be clear and the truth should be just as clear. There should be no strings attached but there should be a clear connection. We love others best when we love the way Christ loved us.

Day 27 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-12T11:35:00.001-07:00

Abuses of the Social Gospel

So, what happens when you discover a way to help broken humanity with care and healing through faith in the bible? Imagine that on a massive scale a program could be created to first meet a very real need and then introduce the message of the gospel of Jesus substitutionary death and resurrection. What if countless thousands of people were introduced to biblical truth and set free from deep pain and helplessness? Can you imagine that? Wouldn’t it be worth praying for? Would it be sustainable?

What you have just imagined is reality…

The first YMCA was concerned with Bible study, although the organization has generally moved on to a more holistic approach to youth work. Around six years after its birth, an international YMCA conference in Paris decided that the objective of the organization should become "Christian discipleship developed through a program of religious, educational, social and physical activities"

The Salvation Army's main converts were at first alcoholics, morphine addicts, prostitutes and other "undesirables" unwelcomed into polite Christian society, which helped prompt the Booths to start their own church. Today the Salvation Army is the second largest charity in the United States, with private donations of almost $2 billion for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007.

AA founder Bill Wilson wrote the Twelve Steps one night while lying in bed, which he felt was the best place to think. He prayed for guidance prior to writing, and in reviewing what he had written and numbering the new steps, he found they added up to twelve. He then thought of the Twelve Apostles and became convinced that the program should have twelve steps.

How did the movements described above loose their zeal for biblical truth? While each of these still provide care and healing to millions of people around the world, they are no longer bringing people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Day 26 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

History of the Social Gospel

The Social Gospel is a label most often associated with the early 20th century American movement which sought to, “work in this world to establish a Kingdom of God with social justice for all.” Nearly 100 years ago optimism about the human social condition was at an all time high. From politics to industry the world was changing in unforeseen ways. People were overcoming decades of class distinctions, illiteracy and political persecution and were discovering prosperity, freedom and comfort like never before. Many church leaders believed that the Judeo-Christian ethics of the Western world were the key to building God’s Kingdom on earth. If everyone were to worship and think like we do, they thought, things will just continue to get better and better until they reach perfection.

Famous professor of economics, Richard T. Ely. declared that, “the church, the state, and the individual must work together under the guidance of science to fulfill the kingdom of God on earth.”

In his book CHRISTIANITY AND THE SOCIAL CRISIS, Rauschenbusch wrote of the Social Gospel:
“Will the twentieth century mark for the future historian the real adolescence of humanity, the great emancipation from barbarism and from the paralysis of injustice, and the beginning of a progress in the intellectual, social, and moral life of mankind to which all past history has no parallel? It will depend almost wholly on the moral forces which the Christian nations can bring to the fighting line against wrong, and the fighting energy of those moral forces will again depend on the degree to which they are inspired by religious faith and enthusiasm.”

The Social Gospel of 2011 bears little resemblance to the Social Gospel of 1911. Education, government programs, soup kitchens and Christian Social Programs have failed to change the root of the problem which, as it turns out is the heart of sinful man. The Social Gospel of the early 20th Century was not the Gospel of the Bible. Our goal should never be to create heaven on earth but rather to help earth understand the way to heaven.

Day 25 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-08T07:57:00.000-07:00

Does the gospel fit in the context of social justice?

Who’s responsible for the social injustice of our world? Is it the government? Let’s hope not, because they have proven they don’t have the answer. Give us more money and we’ll provide more education they say. Do real answers even exist? Isn’t the Church the answer? But haven’t we proven we can’t do it either? We need an answer for today’s problems that works. The world was terribly broken two thousand years ago when Jesus walked the earth and yet He brought real hope through a social gospel the world had never before seen.

What is the social gospel? It’s a combination of the truth of saving faith through Jesus Christ and a genuine concern for the immediate and pressing needs of hurting people who are cut-off from the source of hope which is Jesus Christ. It’s a message that says, “Let me show you I love you before I tell you I love you.” When Jesus walked the earth He healed the sick and He also spoke the truth. Human relationships are built on much more than words. Deep relationship comes from actions and words combined into character.

Matthew 11:28-30 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

More than 70% of what we communicate is non-verbal. Talk is cheap. If we want to are going to communicate the gospel we will need to do more than talk. St. Francis of Assisi is famous for having said of the social gospel, “Preach the gospel at all times – if necessary use words.”

Day 24 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-08T07:55:00.001-07:00

The Gift of Evangelism

Ephesians 4:11, It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists.

All Christians are called to be witnesses and participate in Evangelism but some Christians have been given the gift of evangelism. Do you have this gift? The gift of evangelism is the ability and desire to boldly and clearly communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Evangelists often care passionately about lost people and have a strong desire to see them meet Jesus. They feel compassion for the lost and seek to earnestly understand their questions and doubts so that they can provide a compelling answer. An evangelist often prefers being with people in the culture rather than hanging out with Christians in the church.

Do you enjoy being with non-Christians and sharing the gospel?
Are you able to effectively communicate to non-Christians in a language they can understand?
Does a person's conversion bring you profound joy?
Do you feel frustrated when you haven't shared your faith for a while?
Do you enjoy teaching others how to share their faith?
Do you find it easy to direct a conversation toward the topic of Jesus Christ?

Day 23 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-07T08:20:00.001-07:00

Are You The Lone Ranger?

A recent United States Army recruiting campaign was built around the phrase, “Army of One.” Sixty years ago children watched their favorite television show called, “The Lone Ranger.” From the pilgrims and pioneers who first settled our great nation until this very day we have held in high esteem the man or woman who is able to stand strong on their own with no help from anyone else. These are the heroes of Hollywood. In truth, isolation is close kin to desolation. Alone you are not strong but extremely vulnerable. Standing alone with success is the miraculous, but it is not the norm. Our greatest moments in history have been united moments. At the time when the constitution was being formed George Washington was credited with saying, “United we stand, Divided we fall.”

What does this have to do with Evangelism? How often do you connect with a biblical truth and then immediately apply it as if it was a solitary command? We are called as individuals, but our calling is to community. Specifically we are called to the Community of Christ which is the Church. The Church is called corporately to evangelism. It’s a together calling as much as it is an individual calling. Salvation for many will not come from contact with one person, but from many touches, often over a long period of time. Who else knows your plan for sharing? Who is encouraging you? Who is counting on you?

1 Corinthians 3:6-7
6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

Day 22 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

Different Strokes for Different Folks

So, the Four Spiritual Laws is not doing it for you? Well, not to fear. Check out some of these creative evangelism tools, many of which are free online, and then tell us what you think.

1.The Evangelism Ball
http://www.jfhp.org/resources/ministry_tools/evangelism-ball.cfm

2. The EvangCube
http://simplysharejesus.com/

3. The Gospel Glove
http://cefpress.com/product.php?productid=446&cat=30&page=1

4. Tracts, Tracts and More Tracts
https://www.evangelicaltract.com/comersus/store/comersus_listItems.asp

5. Custom Covered Gospel of John
http://www.ptl.org/code/products.php?group=Gospels

6. The Million Dollar Question
http://www.livingwaters.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=321&Itemid=264

7. Evangelism Surveys
http://godsgreatestpassion.com/surveyfaqs.htm
http://godsgreatestpassion.com/survey.pdf

Day 21 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-05T16:50:00.000-07:00

Tool Training

Once you have chosen the tool you plan to use, it is important to get used to using it. One of the best ways to do this is through role playing. Choose one person who you feel comfortable with that already has given their life to Christ and then ask them to act like someone who is hearing it for the first time. Simulate a conversation with them that leads to you asking them, “Would you like to know what the bible says about how you can know you are going to heaven?” Then, take an opportunity to practice with them. This will make it much easier to do for real when the opportunity arises. If you are praying for good soil and opportunity and have been sharing your story then you will certainly have an opportunity soon. You will want to be prepared.

I like to ask the person to read the booklet out loud as we go and then I stop them after each Law in the 4 Laws and add my own thoughts or ask questions that clarify that they understand. If questions arise as I go through that are not part of the 4 Spiritual Laws I tell them, “That’s a good question and I would be happy to give you an answer but let’s work through this booklet first and then come back to that.” Once you have finished Law 4, read the prayer and then say, “If this prayer describes the desire of your heart you can pray with me right now and receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord. Would you like to pray with me right now?” If they say, “Yes,” I then ask them to repeat after me and read only a few words at a time, wait for them to repeat them and continue through the entire prayer. After this I encourage them that they are now a child of God and we will spend eternity together because of what they’ve just committed to. So, what are you waiting for? Get practicing. Let me know if you have questions or suggestions.

Day 20 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-04T13:25:00.000-07:00

How Not to Share the Gospel

The Gospel is simple. That’s one reason I really love using the Four Spiritual Laws to share it. But you might wonder if we are doing a disservice to people by not letting them in on more of the truth. Don’t they need to know the cost of following? The Four Spiritual Laws don’t really cover that part. What about the difference between salvation and sanctification? Do they need to understand the role and ministry of the Holy Spirit?

If you consider the stories in the bible about people giving their lives to Christ you will find that most often it was a simple message like the Four Spiritual Laws that the early Church shared. When I was a youth pastor during my Seminary days I made the mistake of frontloading the gospel to a great kid named Josh. The poor guy sat there and listened to me for nearly ½ hour as I tried my seminary student best to tell him everything he would ever need to consider before I asked if he wanted to give his life to Jesus. It was by far the most convoluted and confusing presentation I had ever given. I felt horrible. From that moment until this very day I keep it simple. He did choose to receive Jesus that night, in spite of me. How much do you think is too much when sharing the gospel? Do you have a tool you use?

Day 19 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-03T06:35:00.001-07:00

Know Your Tools

I’ve never known a day when tools were not a part of my life. My dad was always making something for his kids or fixing the house. It wasn’t his regular job, but it was certainly one of his passions. I began to play with a hammer and nails before I could ride a bike. By the time I was five I knew the difference between the circular saw and the reciprocating saw, the pipe wrench and the crescent wrench. Over the years building has become one of my passions as well. Having the right tool can really make the job much easier.

When it comes to sharing the gospel, there are some great tools you can buy to help you in your efforts. My childhood Sunday School teachers used “The Wordless Book,” some prefer “The Gospel of John,” “The Roman Road,” “Good News, Bad News,” or a “Chick Tract.” My tool of choice is “The Four Spiritual Laws.” When I was in College Campus Crusade for Christ introduced me to this little book and showed me how to use it with skill. Over the years I’ve let many people to Christ using this little book. Even when I don’t have one handy I have the words and the Scriptures memorized. It reminds us that the truth is simple and easy to share and the 4 points keep me on topic.

Law 1: God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life
Law 2: Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore he cannot know and experience God’s wonderful plan for his life.
Law 3: Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Through Him you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life.
Law 4: We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our life.

Day 18 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

My Favorite Site

Several years ago I took a core class at Dallas Seminary that was simply called, Evangelism. As part of this class we were expected to read about it, practice it, write about it and discover how to teach others about what the Bible says about it. But the part of this class that stands out to me the most was when we had a guest speaker and fellow Dallas Seminary graduate, Larry Moyer, who challenged all of us with his own stories. He said every time he gets on an airplane he shares Jesus with the person next to him and almost every time they choose to give their life to Christ. Of course that lead us to wonder why we don’t always get a chance to lead people to Christ on an airplane. Are we just not as good as Larry at delivering the truth? Are we not as bold as Larry? In anticipation of our thoughts Larry went on to explain that people often ask these questions and his best answer is, “If God wants someone to hear the gospel do you think He’d have them sit next to you on a plane?” My answer was, no, not really. I usually sit there hoping I will not even have to talk to them at all. I still try to be more like Larry. Part of this can be captured in his web site, my favorite on Evangelism. Check it out at www.evangelism.net

Day 17 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-01T08:34:00.001-07:00

Door to Door Testimonies

For some time I’ve thought about the power of a testimony and how we could do better at sharing our story. I feel like we’ve got amazing stories to tell but they are being kept too quiet. How can we take from what we have and share it better with our world? One of the things that I dreamed up was doing door to door testimonies. The idea is that each house would receive a color flier on their doorstep with a picture and a story next to it. The end of the story would be an invite to our web site to read more stories, an invite to Restlife and the gospel message. Every three months we would send out another round of door to door testimonies with a new story. Each story would be by someone who lives right here in our community.

What do you think? Should we do door to door testimonies? Do you think it would be compelling? Would we be able to find enough people brave enough to share their story with the people they live, work and shop with? Is there a better idea you’d like to share?

Day 16 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-04-01T08:31:00.001-07:00

The Bible Says Share

The Bible says, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!" (1 Chronicles 16:8). "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy" (Psalm 107:2)."For we cannot but speak of the things we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20).

If you have been rescued by God from your sin and the consequences of it, one of the ways you can express thanks to God is by telling others what happened. Your story is really HIS story. You live through His power so that when life is beyond you and yet you still overcome, you have a story to tell. His deeds are the things He has done in your life that defy a natural explanation. I like the old negro saying, “He’s been better to me than I’ve been to myself.” If that’s true, it’s a story worth sharing.

Day 15 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

Ready to Share

Once you have your testimony down, it’s time to share it. But who should you share it with? Doesn’t it sound abrupt to say, “Hey, do you want to hear my story?” There are a lot of ways you can share it. One way is to post it on your facebook profile or another online spot such as the church web site. By doing this, you will make your story available to many thousands of people, some you will never meet. You also might want to share it with your pastor and offer to read it to the congregation. But the best way I know is to share it with a neighbor or co-worker.

Last night Nicole and I had our newest neighbors over for dinner. Without forcing anything or being abrupt, we found an opportunity to share the story of when Claire was born three months early and how much of a difference it made for us to have people praying and to have the peace that comes from knowing God. Who could you invite to lunch or dinner? Pray before you meet that God would give you an opportunity to share all or part of your story. Start by asking them theirs. Follow the Holy Spirit’s lead. God is always on time.

Day 14 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

Time to Write Your Own Story

What makes a good testimony? If you read Acts 26:1-29 you will see an example of how the apostle Paul gave his testimony in the midst of great pressure. Paul talked about his early life, before meeting Christ - both the good and the bad points. Then he talked about how Christ revealed Himself to him and his response. Its good to devote about 40% to "Before Christ", about 20% to the conversion experience, and about 40% to "After Christ". People need to know what kind of a difference Christ made in your life. Be honest and authentic. Don't try to make it look better than it is, or to make your past sound worse than it really was. God will bless a testimony that is truthful. People are usually pretty good at spotting phony things.
1 - Realize the Power of Your Christian Testimony
First and foremost - remember - there is power in your testimony! Revelation 12:11 says we overcome our enemy be the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.
2 - Study an Example of a Testimony from the Bible
Read Acts 26. Here the Apostle Paul gives his testimony.
3 - Spend Time in Thought Preparation
There are a few things to consider before you start writing your testimony. Think about your life before you met the Lord. What was going on in your life leading up to your conversion? What problems or needs were you facing at the time? How did your life change after that?
4 - Start with a Simple 3-Point Outline
A three-point approach is very effective in communicating your personal testimony. The outline focuses on before you trusted Christ, how you surrendered to him, and the difference since you've been walking with him.
• Before:

Simply tell what your life was like before you surrendered to Christ. What were you searching for before coming to know Christ? What was the key problem, emotion, situation or attitude you were dealing with? What motivated you? What were your actions? How did you try to satisfy your inner needs? (Examples of inner needs are loneliness, fear of death, insecurity. Possible ways to fill those needs include work, money, drugs, relationships, sports, sex.)
• How:

How were you converted? Simply tell the events and circumstances that caused you to consider Christ as the solution to your searching. Take time to identify the steps that brought you to the point of trusting Christ. Where were you? What was happening at the time? What people or problems influenced your decision?
• Since:

How has your life in Christ made a difference? How has his forgiveness impacted you? How have your thoughts, attitudes and emotions changed? Share how Christ is meeting your needs and what a relationship with him means to you now.
5 - Important Tips to Remember
• Stick to the point. Your conversion and new life in Christ should be the main points.
• Be specific. Include events, genuine feelings and personal insights that clarify your main point. This makes your testimony tangible - something others can relate to.
• Be current. Tell what is happening in your life with God now, today.
• Be honest. Don't exaggerate or dramatize your life for effect. The simple truth of what God has done in your life is all the Holy Spirit needs to convict others of their sin and convince them of his love and grace.
6 - Things to Avoid
Stay away from "Christianese" phrases. These "foreign" or "churchy" words can alienate listeners and readers and keep them from identifying with your life. Here are some examples:

Avoid using "born again"
Instead use:
• spiritual birth
• spiritual renewal
• to come alive spiritually
• given a new life
Avoid using "saved"
Instead use:
• rescued
• delivered from despair
• found hope for life
Avoid using "lost"
Instead use:
• heading in the wrong direction
• separated from God
• had no hope
Avoid using "Gospel"
Instead use:
• God's message to man
• the good news about Christ's purpose on earth
Avoid using "sin"
Instead use:
• rejecting God
• missing the mark
• falling away from the right path
• a crime against God's law
• disobedience to God
Avoid using "repent"
Instead use:
• admit a wrong
• change one's mind, heart or attitude
• make a decision to turn away
• turn around
• a 180 degree turn from what you were doing

Day 13 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

The Power of a Testimony

Has someone ever moved you to tears with the spoken word? Has someone ever encouraged you by what they said? Have you ever heard a rousing speech that gave you goose bumps or changed your perspective? There is great power in the spoken as well as the written word.

Revelation 12:11 says, “They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

Do you know anyone who has made bad decisions? Have you ever met someone who needed encouragement? Everyone loves a good story. Everyone has a good story. When you share what God has done in your life, you have the power to change lives, to restore and to overcome.

Day 12 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

You will be My Witness

How much of the science and history you know is from first-hand experience and how much was passed on to you by others who saw it with their own eyes and then told their story? Personal testimony is a crucial part of human existence. We are constantly exchanging stories about what we’ve seen or heard. In court, one of the best ways to establish truth is to have an eye witness tell what they saw.

Acts 1:8, “ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus commissioned His followers to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. Anyone who chooses to yield to God has a compelling story to tell. You are already the expert on your own story. Just tell people how Jesus has changed you. That is the best way to plant the seed of truth.

Day 11 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

The Big Picture

Before we move on to the next chapter in understanding and living a life of evangelism, let’s take a big picture view of what we’ve covered so far.

Evangelism is a lifestyle, not an activity.
Evangelism is sharing the good news, not trying to convert others.
Prayer is our best gardening tool. It is the way we cultivate the soil for the seed of truth.
One way to approach evangelism is to ask, “Can I pray for you?”
Make a list and pray each day.
Check back to see how God is working.
Keep your own life right so your prayers will not be hindered.

Day 10 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hindrances to Prayer

Prayer is important for many reasons, especially for witnessing. But prayer can be hindered. So that your prayers and witnessing might be as affective as possible, a discussion of the hindrances of prayer is necessary. Do any of the following apply to you?
Sin hinders prayer. "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear," (Psalm 66:18). We all sin, but do you have unconfessed and unrepented sin in your life? If so, confess your sin, repent from it as you are commanded in Acts 17:30, and continue in witnessing and prayer.
Selfishness hinders prayer. "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures" (James 4:3). Examine yourself. Make sure your prayers are not motivated by selfish desires. If you find that selfishness is a factor then confess it and repent.
Doubt hinders prayer. "But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind," (James 1:6). We all doubt. We all fail. But when you doubt be reminded of the man who said to Jesus, "Lord I believe, help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24). He believed and yet doubted and Jesus granted his request. Remember that God has given a measure of faith to every man (Rom. 12:3). Trust God, even when you have doubts. It does not matter necessarily how much faith you have as much as who your faith is in. Put what faith you have in Jesus. Trust Him. Watch Him be faithful to you.
Pride hinders prayer. Jesus spoke of the Pharisee and the tax-gatherer who both were praying. The Pharisee boasted about himself while the tax-gatherer asked for mercy from God. Jesus said in Luke 18:14 regarding the tax-gatherer, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other." Jesus shows us that pride is sin and that it hinders prayer (James 4:6). Have the same attitude that Jesus had in heaven in His full glory as He had on Earth as a man. He was humble. If you are prideful, confess it as sin, repent, and continue in humility.
A poor husband and wife relationship hinders prayer. This may seem a little out of place here, but it isn't. A proper relationship with your spouse is very important. If there are problems because of selfishness, pride, argument, anger, unforgiveness, or any of the other multitudinous obstacles that can develop in marriage, then your prayers will be hindered. How are you doing with your mate? Are you witnessing while there is anger between you two? In Matt. 5:23-24 Jesus said, "If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering." Are you reconciled to your wife or husband (for that matter, anyone you know with whom there is strife) before you offer sacrifices of witnessing and prayer to the Lord? If not, then be reconciled, so your prayers won't be hindered. 1 Pet. 3:7says, "You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that you prayers may not be hindered."

Day 9 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

Check your Work

1 Corinthians 3:6-7, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”

So, you’ve done the hard work of developing a list, softening the soil through prayer and planting the seeds of truth. What do you do next? Well, I know whenever I plant seeds in my yard I check for progress. Especially with grass seeds, I check to see if they are getting a enough water or too much. Is anyone stepping on them while they are trying to grow? In short, I keep a close eye on the seeds to make sure they have the best environment to grow in. If you ask someone how you can pray for them, you need to also check back with them to see how they are doing. Keep praying for them throughout the process. Pray also for yourself, that you will see what God wants you to see and share the words He wants you to share.

Day 8 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-23T09:10:00.001-07:00

How Should I Pray?

Once you have your prayer list, start praying. But what do I pray, you might ask. Well, pray first that God would open their hearts and minds so that they could receive Him. You will also want to pray for the request that they offered up. Ask God to answer their prayer in a way that will draw them to Himself. Pray for more opportunities to have good conversations with them and specifically for the opportunity to share the gospel message with them. Pray against anything Satan might do to distract you or them from this dialogue. Pray each day and then look to see how God is working. Remember, it’s His job to win their hearts, not yours. Your job is to be a witness, to pray and to share. Leave the results to Him.

Day 7 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-22T09:04:00.001-07:00

Making a List

Prayer is the tool God gave us to prepare the hearts of those we know to receive the good news. If you decided to plant a garden in your back yard, where would you put it? Before you could plant seeds you’d need to choose the right spot where the sun is plentiful and there is access to water. You wouldn’t want people to walk through it so it would be out of the walking path. Before you can till the soil, you need to choose the area in your yard. Evangelism prayers are much the same. Before you can begin praying, you need to define the soil that you are softening.

We do this by making a list. Who has God placed near you? Who comes to mind when you ask God to give you names? Just like it would be too much to turn your entire yard, front and back, into a garden, you will want to make the list small enough that you can manage it. You can always add to it later. Write down the names on the computer, your phone or on paper and then visit it every day at least once. Next time we’ll talk about what to pray. For now, make sure you have your list.

Day 6 - 40 Days of Focus:Evangelism

2011-03-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Can I Pray for You?

Everybody needs help with something. Many years ago a man came to speak at the Dallas Seminary’s chapel while I was a student there. He was invited to share because God had revealed to him a great truth about evangelism. People in America are often offended by Christians who try to convince them that they are sinners and need Jesus. However, if you simply ask, “Can I pray for you,” most people will feel loved and will welcome the support. This then opens the door to further spiritual conversations. If you will honestly pray for the requests that people give you then you will be inviting God to answer their prayers and draw them to Himself.

Start by choosing one or two people/families who you can offer to pray for. Next, find a good time to ask them. You may want to have them over for dinner at your home or you may find that the lunch table at work is a good place. Then, simply ask them how you can pray for them. Once you have a prayer request, pray for it daily for at least a week and then make sure to follow up with asking how the issue you prayed for is going. This may lead to new prayer requests. It will likely give you an opportunity to talk about how Jesus has changed you and why you believe (sharing the good news). After a while you might also try asking them if they wouldn’t mind praying for you. If they don’t know how, you can take an opportunity to tell them it all begins with a relationship...

Day 5 - 40 Days of Focus:Evanelism

2011-03-21T08:54:00.001-07:00

Matthew 13:3-9
“Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

The truth of the gospel is the seed that can sprout and become faith that leads to everlasting life. So, we share what we know with those around us, but some receive it and others don’t. The parable of the soils helps us understand why sometimes faith grows and sometimes it does not.

But is there any way we can prepare the soil better? Can we remove rocks and break up hard ground? Can we pull weeds and clear them? Prayer is our best gardening tool. It is the way we cultivate the soil of those who cannot receive the gospel.

Colossians 4:2-6
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Day 4 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-19T11:31:00.001-07:00

Day 4
Evangelism is a lifestyle, not an activity.
Evangelism is sharing the good news, not trying to convert others.

When you begin to understand what evangelism really is and isn’t much of the fear, although not all of it, melts away. Look at what Jesus says in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” We are asked to be witnesses. That means we share our story. A witness tells what they know. Our biggest problem is that we think that we need to convince people. Our second largest problem is that we think our story isn’t worth telling. Maybe we need to relax and get back to basics.

Can you imagine evangelism as a combination of living a victorious lifestyle and intentionally inviting others to hear your story? Does that sound like something you could do?

Day 3 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-18T11:28:00.001-07:00

Day 3
What if I don’t want to do evangelism? Isn’t it optional? Consider the last words of Jesus before He left His followers…

Matthew 28:19,20
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The original Greek does not command us to “go,” only to “make disciples.” It literally should read, “Therefore, as you are going, make disciples…” The Great Commission instructs us to make disciples while we are going throughout the world and while we are going about our daily activities. How are we to make disciples? “Make disciples” is the command of the Great Commission. “As you are going,” “baptizing,” and “teaching” are the means by which we fulfill the command to “make disciples.”

Evangelism is not just something we do at certain times and places. It’s something Jesus wants us to do as we go along life’s way. Evangelism is a lifestyle, not an activity. It’s sharing the good news, not trying to convert others.

Day 2 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

Day 2
So, what is evangelism according to the bible? The Greek word, “euangelion,” literally translated means, “good news.” It’s a combination of two Greek words, εὔ = "good", ἀγγέλλω = "I bring a message"; the word, “angel,” which means messenger is of the same root.

As with many things, evangelism has taken on a meaning of it’s own throughout the years that is often quite different than its actual meaning. To a large extent it is a wonderful biblical word that has been polluted by misuse and abuse. Many think evangelism means converting people. But this is totally absent from the true meaning.

Evangelism means sharing good news. Specifically, the good news of the substitutionary death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in our place. Through His death He paid the penalty for the sins of mankind so that we can once again be in right relationship with our Creator who is the source of life. Specifically, we are talking about eternal life in terms of quality and quantity. By giving our life to God we are promised He will give us not only a better life, but an incredibly beautiful life without end.

Evangelism is the process of passing on or delivering that message to others. You have been evangelized if you have heard the good news. Whether you choose to agree with it goes beyond the scope of evangelism.

Day 1 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-16T08:26:00.001-07:00

Day 1
Today begins the journey. 40 Days of focused discovery. What is evangelism?

When I hear the word, “evangelism,” feelings of guilt and dread start to float in. It’s amazing how one word can trigger such a fast flood of emotion. I suppose that in some ways it’s similar to the feelings that we get when we hear someone say, “tax audit or traffic jam or dentist.” Over my lifetime I have heard dozens of teachings on evangelism and experienced dozens more challenging opportunities to give it a try. I’ve seen many people come to saving faith and I’ve experienced God’s presence many times. So, why the dreaded emotional response? Does my experience with evangelism match with what God intended? Is the call to evangelize just a difficult reality of the Christian life or have we ruined another one of God’s gifts by adding human misunderstandings to Christ’s teachings?

Before I answer any of these questions, I want to give others an opportunity to weigh-in. What words come to you mind when you hear, “evangelism?”

40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

2011-03-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

Thank you for choosing to join our 40 Days of Focus on Evangelism via our Restlife blog. Check back daily to see posts on Evangelism by Pastor Dan beginning Wednesday, March 16th and continuing daily through Easter Sunday. Feel free to post a comment or share your own journey by replying to the blog each day. May God bless you as you take Him at His word.

Boling Missionary Update

2010-12-03T08:21:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to all who took part in the Convoy of Hope! May God's grace continue to grow in the hearts of those you may have introduced Him to for the first time...

Classes here at the mission sending base continue to be fun, scary, and helpful. We're down to the last three weeks and so are working on communications with key field contacts for final details of work assignments and travel arrangements , 'telling our story', figuring out actual budgets, and developing a Power Point presentation to share with others about what we'll be doing.

The Lord has seen fit to direct our path to teach, instead of learn, as a next step. Instead of heading out to France for my language study, He's directing us to WEC's Gateway Missionary Training College (MTC) in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. The semester begins January 17th. I believe we'll be leaving here very near December 15th. Our candidate orientation finishes on Dec 4th. Mike has to catch up on some Continuing Medical Education courses, though, and it seems good to us to have him get those out of the way before we find ourselves in a whirlwind of new surroundings and activities. We'll keep you posted on our travels because they might include driving through Sacramento just after Christmas.

Heading for Canada instead of France is different than what we had anticipated in our own (practical) thinking. Our hearts continue to beat for West Africa. We trusted that God would show us HIS plan during this candidate orientation time. While it's true that neither one of us would have ever considered ministry right away (in Canada!), our prayers for direction have been answered in a very clear, unquestionable way. We are in perfect peace about this next step. Naturally we try to figure out some of the "whys". Maybe we'll make a contact at the MTC that God will use to direct our next step; maybe Laurie is not yet ready for overseas work and needs to be exposed to more cross-cultural training; maybe the field where He's sending us is not even established yet! We don't know, really, but we can't help wondering. That's part of the marvel of belonging to a great and mighty God, Father, who indeed directs our every step.

We'll be living in an ethnically-mixed community (everyone taking their turns at cleaning the chicken coop!), working and teaching. I'll be assigned to the office and conference coordinating, while Mike will teach the Culture & Adaptation module, be part of the Overseas Life Issues, and co-teach the World Mission Course of the Perspectives program. We will be mentors to a student couple and will both help with teaching and/or conversations for the English (ESL) module. I plan to work on French language study in the evenings. We'll give more details from there in January!

Until then, we continue to pray for all the doings at RestLife, and for the Sunday School especially... In Him,
Laurie (and Mike)

Convoy of Hope and the Miracle of Feeding the Multitude

2010-11-19T07:15:00.000-08:00

What an amazing and inspiring weekend! God moved in miraculous ways that can only be described as supernatural. There are too many stories to tell, but one of my favorite stories was how God provided through a man named, Steve. We were only days away from throwing our giant party for thousands of needy, downhearted people in Sacramento and we knew we were going to be short on food. After doing everything we could to get one full truck of food from Convoy of Hope we were still two or three truckloads away from our goal. With no money left in the bank, one of our team members wrote a check for $7,000 from his personal account and said, "Buy food in Sacramento. Just get the best deal you can. We are going to need more." So, several of our friends loaded their cars with canned food from Cambell's Soup. At 8 cents per can it was an amazing deal. Four pallets of canned food later we were still going to be short. That's when amazing replaced frenzied and God showed His awsome might.

Steve was one of many hundreds of people to sign-up onlline as a volunteer for Convoy of Hope Sacramento. None of us had ever met him before, but he was quick to make himself available. On the drive to get the Cambell's food, he volunteered to pull the church trailer behind his large, heavy duty truck. We liked Steve from the beginning. He's the kind of guy who gets things done. Along the way we found out that Steve was a truck driver with UPS and just about that time we also recieved a call from the Fresno Food Bank offering two truckloads of food if we could pick them up. But how do you get two semi truckloads of food from Fresno to Sacramento with only three days notice and no money? Apparently, you let Steve know you need some help and watch God do miracles. Once Steve found out about the need he jumped into action, called his boss at UPS and found they were more than ready to make it happen. What normally takes three weeks for approval was fastracked by UPS and in 24 hours they recieved approval to pick-up the food in UPS trucks and ship them to Cal Expo just in time for the event. Our God is the One who provides. With no money and no time God provided beyond our expectations. At the last minute we also recieved another truck from Food Link and in the end, wouldn't you know it, we ran out of food at 3:00. God provided just what we needed, no more and no less.

In the end, we fed 7,000 people with more than 1,500 volunteers from 70 churches. We gave away 1,800 family portraits, 504 haircuts, multiple bags of clothes, eye glasses, medical and dental services and the Hope than can be found only in Jesus Christ. Hundreds of people responded to the gospel and now the follow-up begins. Thank you to all who made this amazing event possible. We look forward to our volunteer rally celebration in December and even more so to seeing what God will do through us next year.

2010-10-01T13:49:00.000-07:00

To Hear Pastor Dan's Audio Sermons from Archives go to http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22axtell%22&sort=-downloads

Proposed Constitution for Restoration Life

2008-06-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

CONSTITUTION OF RESTORATION LIFE
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
PREAMBLE

This document is the Church Constitution of Restoration Life of Sacramento, California, a California non-profit religious organization.

Statement of Faith:

The Bible
We believe that the Bible, Old and New Testaments, is the verbally inspired Word of God, completely without error in the original writings, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that it is the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

The Trinity
We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons, God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit, and that these are equal in every divine perfection, and that they execute distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, history, providence, and redemption.

God the Father
We believe in God, the Father, an infinite personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love. We believe that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of each person, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ
We believe in Jesus Christ, eternally existent in the second person of the Trinity, God’s only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. We believe in His substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and personal visible return to earth.

The Holy Spirit
We believe in the eternal Holy Spirit who came forth from the Father and the Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify, and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ, and that He is an abiding helper, teacher and guide.

The Total Depravity of Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that through Adam's sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God. In this state, man is totally depraved and of himself utterly unable to remedy his lost condition.

Regeneration
We believe that all people are sinners by nature and by choice and therefore are under condemnation. We believe that those who repent of their sins and trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ as Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

The Church
We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members. We believe in the local church, baptized on a credible confession of faith, and associated for worship, work and fellowship. We believe that God has laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of giving the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world.

Christian Conduct
We believe that Christians should live for the glory of God and the well-being of others in all facets of life; that their conduct should be blameless before the world; that they should be faithful stewards of their possessions; and that they should seek to realize for themselves and others the full stature of maturity in Christ.

The Ordinances
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that baptism is by water and we practice immersion. We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ for commemoration of His death and redeeming work on the cross. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Local Church Cooperation
We believe in the autonomy of the local churches, free of any external authority and control. However, we believe that the local church can best promote the cause of Jesus Christ by cooperating with other churches in an organization, denomination or network. Such organizations or networks exist and function by the will of the churches involved. Cooperation in a conference is voluntary and may be terminated at any time. Churches may likewise cooperate with interdenominational fellowships on a voluntary basis. However, all ongoing, formal cooperation will not in any way compromise the commitment or ability of Restoration Life to teach and promote its own doctrine.

The Last Things
We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal joy of the righteous, and the endless suffering of the wicked.

Mission Statement:
Go into the Community, Show them God is Alive, Grow them into Disciples

In accordance with the Great Commission recorded in Matthew 28:18-20, this Church shall be committed to an outward focus towards those who are not yet followers of Jesus Christ. While congregational care of regular participants shall not be neglected, outreach to others who are outside or new to the Church shall be given higher priority in the budgeting, staffing and scheduling of Church activities. Thus the mission of this Church is to make new disciples and welcome them into a congregation that is healthy, growing, and multiplying through the planting of other congregations with the same mission.

Core Values:

1. God's Word is our authority
We believe that the Bible is the Divinely Inspired Word of God and that it holds the key to understanding the purpose of life.
2. People First—Programs Second
All the programs and ministries of Restoration Life are designed to serve people and help them to discover God’s truth. Programs that don’t accomplish this purpose need to be refocused.
3. Movement Mentality - Going, Showing, Growing
We are not a group. We are a movement. Restoration Life is not a place to get comfortable, but a place to get equipped. We want to share the good news of Jesus Christ with our community, help new Christians grow in their faith and knowledge of God’s Word, and then go out into the community to share the same message with others.
4. Win the Right to be heard - Cultural Relevance
We believe that in order to be heard we must earn the right by going to our community on their turf and speaking in a language they understand. We are committed to showing our love before sharing our heart. This includes meeting the very real needs and answering the tough questions with humility and honesty.
5. Networking—we all work for the same boss
We are committed to learning from and working with others whenever possible within our community. To this end we will seek out partnerships and teamwork with other Christian groups in the area as we seek to work together to the glory of God.
6. Cross-Pollination - bringing in new perspectives
It is healthy for the church to have people from many different backgrounds all working together. This increases our perspective, our talent pool and our creativity.
7. Servant Leadership - leading is a privilege
We believe that leaders demonstrate their calling by serving. Leaders don’t focus on telling others what to do, they show them.
8. Major on the majors, not the minors - Balance not extremes
Some things God’s Word makes absolutely clear, and church history reinforces it. Other things are left to interpretation. Within the Body of Christ there is liberty on those doctrines that are not central. Meanwhile, there is unity on the essentials. If God’s Word doesn’t make it clear, we refuse to break fellowship over it.
9. Prayer - No prayer, No point
Prayer is God’s prescription for releasing His power and purpose into our offering. When God’s people pray, they invite God to do what He is already committed to doing. Without prayer, it is not possible to change a single life.

Association:

Restoration Life, Sacramento shall be an affiliated member of Growing Healthy Churches (GHC). As such, this Church shall participate in training and support programs, practice tithing of its income, and help promote the regional ministry of GHC. This membership shall be a voluntary, covenant relationship among likeminded congregations that remain legally autonomous while interdependent in mission.

Membership Expectations:

The Congregation of Restoration Life, Sacramento shall consist of believers in Jesus Christ who make the following commitments:
(a) To participate regularly in worship and training of the Church in order to grow in their faith.
(b) To serve faithfully in the ministries and outreach activities of the Church.
(c) To support the mission of the Church and the leadership needed to accomplish that mission.
(d) To seek resolution of differences in the Church privately and graciously, as Scripture requires.
(e) To give sacrificially to the financial costs of achieving the mission of the Church.

The Congregation shall be considered Church Members as defined above as provided in the California Corporations Code (CCC 9330, 9511 – 12). Membership shall entail no definitions, rights, or responsibilities other than those explicitly stated in this document.

Membership Process:

Any person may be received into membership of this church, upon the recommendation of the Lead Pastor or his delegate, by any one of the following acts:

a. Professing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, giving evidence of a change of heart; or
b. Presenting a letter of transfer from another Church holding like faith and practice; or
c. Making a request for restoration, after having accepted the aims and ideals of this church as expressed in this document and making suitable enlistment for worship, service and giving.

REMOVAL FROM MEMBERSHIP ROLL: On an annual basis, the Staff shall review the Church membership. It shall recommend that those members who have not made contact with the church during the previous year, by attendance or financial support, be removed from the active roll. Prior to such removal, the member shall be notified by letter and/or visitation. Members who are home-bound or physically limited shall be exempted from this review.

Congregational Voting:

The following decisions of the Church shall require the approval of the Congregation by a two-thirds vote (except as noted below) of those Members who are at least 18 years of age, present and voting.
(a) Selecting Elders to serve on the Elder Board ( )
(b) Approval of the annual budget in broad categories (simple majority)
(c) Amending the Constitution
(d) Calling or dismissing the Senior Pastor
(e) Dismissal of a member (simple majority)
(f) Change of denominational affiliation / association (simple majority)
(g) Purchasing or selling Church facilities

The Congregation shall be given at least two (2) weeks notice of any vote by announcement at regular services and by electronic and postal mail. If a vote is taken at a meeting, votes may be cast by verbal means, visual indication such as raising of hands, or in writing. Thirty–five (35) current Members or 35% of the membership, whichever is less, shall constitute a quorum. No abstentions or votes by proxy shall be counted. The Board, at its discretion, may also bring to the Congregation decisions not listed above for a vote of approval or an expression of affirmation. Meetings of the Congregation for voting shall occur as needed when called by either the Board or the Lead Pastor, or under special circumstances as noted below, by the congregation.

Members of the congregation may directly call a meeting of the congregation for voting by means of a written, signed, petition of 50% of the congregation, or 50 members, whichever is less. Under this circumstance, a quorum for voting is 50% of the congregation or 50 members, whichever is less.

Organizational Structure:

It is the purpose of this Constitution to provide a stable and effective organizational structure to aid this Church in accomplishing its mission. The following sections specify a model that keeps the roles of Lead Pastor, Elder Board, Staff and Congregation distinct and effective for church health, church growth and church multiplication. These policies shall be reviewed as needed for any changes to the structure that may increase the effectiveness of the Pastor, Board and the Church.
(a) The primary role of the Members shall be to implement the vision and strategies of the Church.
(b) The role of the Board is to establish Board Policy and Board Policy Principles for the Pastor’s leadership.
(c) The role of the Pastor is to lead the Church to accomplish its mission.
(d) The role of the Staff is to manage the ministries of the Church, and to lead, teach and mentor lay leaders, as directed by the Pastor.

Elder Board Selection:

The Elder Board (Board) shall consist of no more than 9 Elders, including the Lead Pastor, who shall always, automatically be a member of the Board. It is preferable, whenever possible, to have an odd number of Elders to avoid tie votes in the decision making process. No more than 49% of the Board may be filled by paid Staff. The Elders shall be active male Church Members selected for one-year terms by the following process:
(a) The Elder Board will serve as the nominating committee.
(b) Any active Member of the Church may submit to the nominating committee during the nomination period, a signed letter to recommend a potential Elder of good character, spiritual maturity and commitment to the mission and vision of the Church.
(c) An annual congregational meeting shall be held at which the nominating committee shall present to the Congregation for approval a selection of candidates that it deems qualified to serve as Elders.
(d) Elected Elders must successfully complete a training course taught by the Lead Pastor covering the mission, structure, and the vision of the Church.
(e) Both incoming and existing Elders will be held to the Biblical qualifications as outlined in 1 Timothy 3:1-13. At any time, if one or more of these qualifications are not evident in the conduct or life of an Elder, it is expected that that Elder will resign or be removed until such time as he is able to fulfill these qualifications to the satisfaction of the remaining Elder Board.
(f) Members of the Elder Board shall consist of men only, in accordance with the Scriptures.
(g) The one-year terms will begin June 1st and end May 31st.

Each Elder may serve a maximum of three consecutive annual terms and may serve again after a break of one year or more. Immediate family members of the Pastor, the Staff or of other Elders shall not serve on the same Elder Board. The term of an Elder may be vacated either by resignation or by action of the Board. The remainder of a vacated term shall be filled by a member recommended by the Lead Pastor and approved by the Board; this partial term shall not be counted toward the limit of three consecutive terms.

Elder Board Role:

The primary ministry role of the Board shall include:
(a) Preserving the doctrine of the Church as defined in the Preamble of the Constitution
(b) Shepherding the Congregation through prayer, support, scriptural application, and nurturing.
(c) Maintaining healthy, regular participation in the body life and ministries of the church, as servant leaders.

The primary organizational role of the Board shall be to provide accountability and support for the Pastor through the Board Policy Principles in three categories:
(a) Mission Principles define for the Pastor what ends the Church exists to achieve.
(b) Boundary Principles define for the Pastor what means may not be used in pursuit of achieving those ends.
(c) Accountability Principles define for the Board how it is to monitor the Pastor’s compliance with the Board Policy Principles.

The Lead Pastor is responsible for leading the church within these principles and boundaries as monitored by the Board. The Board Policy Principles are guidelines and are not intended to restrict the Lead Pastor’s or Staff’s ability to shepherd the church in accomplishing objectives, strategies and plans consistent with the mission and vision of the Church. In matters that require Board action, the Board shall consider proposed matters in light of Board Policy Principles, and if found consistent with those principles, approve reasonable actions recommended by the Pastor. Action of the Board shall be by simple majority of all Elders, present and voting; in the case of a tie, the Lead Pastor will cast a second, deciding vote. A majority of the Board shall constitute a quorum for action by the Board. Board meetings shall occur at least quarterly and at other special times as needed. All Board members shall be given notice at least 48 hours in advance of every special Board meeting by electronic, verbal, or written means. However, such notice may be waived by unanimous consent. Minutes of all meetings of the Board shall be taken and placed in the Church Office as part of the official records.

Church Officers:

Each year the Elders shall elect a Moderator, Church Clerk and Treasurer. These three officers shall be the official officers of the Church under State law. These officers need not be Elders. The Moderator shall take the lead in facilitating the Elder Board meetings. The Church Clerk shall maintain the official records of the Church, prepare minutes of all business meetings of the Church and Board, and maintain and distribute the current edition of the Board Policy Principles and other documents.
The Church Clerk and Moderator shall sign legal documents on behalf of the Corporation in compliance with the Board Policy Principles established by the Board, obtaining congregational approval when required. The Treasurer is responsible for fiscal records and cash management within acceptable accounting practices. The Treasurer shall oversee the disbursement of funds in accordance with the budget approved by the Congregation. If the budget requires adjustment in the major categories, the Treasurer shall present such financial details to the Board and Congregation for approval. The Treasurer shall provide the Board with Quarterly reports and the Congregation with an Annual Report.

Lead Pastor Role:

The role of the Lead Pastor is to model the Church’s core values, establish and communicate the Church’s vision, and develop strategy to accomplish the Church’s mission. The Lead Pastor is ultimately responsible for the programs and activities of the Church in accordance with the Board Policy Principles. The Pastor shall report the activities of Staff to the Board and shall lead the Board in discussions concerning the Mission and Vision of the Church. The Pastor shall lead the Staff and its management of all Church operations to accomplish its Mission. The Pastor shall lead the Congregation by teaching biblical truth, casting vision, and advancing the mission of the Church. With regard to job retention and approval of major decisions, the Pastor shall be accountable to the Elder Board. The Pastor shall hire, direct, compensate, and dismiss any and all Church Staff in accordance with the Board’s adopted Board Policy Principles and the Church’s Personnel Manual. The Lead Pastor shall be a voting member of the Elder Board and all committees. It is also expected that the Lead Pastor represent this church to the associated organizations, other local churches and the community.

Church Staff:

A Staff person appointed by the Lead Pastor shall manage each assigned area of Church operation as deemed necessary to fulfill the vision of Restoration Life. The authority of Staff members is an extension of that delegated by the Lead Pastor. The Lead Pastor is responsible for all that the Staff does or fails to do. Staff positions shall be created, filled, vacated or discontinued based on how effectively they accomplish designated parts of the Mission Principles within the limits allowed by the Board Policy Principles. All such decisions are the responsibility and prerogative of the Lead Pastor, acting within the approved budget, who must answer to the Board for the effectiveness of the Staff.

Team Leaders / Deacons:

Section 1. Team Leaders serve in the biblical role as Deacons and operate as pastoral assistants to the Lead Pastor or his designated representative. They are provided for in God's Word for the ministering to the needs of the local congregation and the practical demonstration of Christian love. Deacons may be men or women who maintain the qualifications expressed in 1 Timothy 3:8 13.

Section 2. The Lead Pastor or his designated representative shall assign Deacons to specific tasks or ministry leadership for a length of time deemed appropriate. They shall minister to the body in their assigned tasks under the general authority of the Lead Pastor or his designated representative, in agreement with God's Word and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Lead Pastor selection process and appointment of Staff:

Section 1. The Lead Pastor shall be recommended by a Search Committee to the membership, and then be elected by a two-thirds majority vote at a special meeting of the church called for that purpose. The Congregation shall be given at least two (2) weeks notice of the meeting. Salary shall be fixed at the time of election and may be changed at any regular business meeting thereafter upon recommendation of the Elder Board. The Lead Pastor shall be a member of this church and serve as ex-officio member of the Elder Board and all committees. All other ministers except the Lead Pastor may be appointed as needed by the Lead Pastor, with the approval of the Elder Board and subject to the availability of funds.

Section 2. When the position of Lead Pastor is vacated for any reason, the following process shall occur:

a. The Elder Board shall nominate a Search Committee to be elected by the church.
b. The Elder Board shall select and appoint an Interim Pastor. The compensation for the Interim Pastor shall be established within budgeted resources for the position.
c. It is understood that the office of Lead Pastor and Elder are required to be held by men according to the Scriptures.

Section 3. The services of the Senior Pastor may be terminated by the Elder Board, subject to Congregational approval (detailed below), provided that notice of such action be given in writing at least 30-days prior to the date of termination. Similarly, if the Lead Pastor should desire to terminate his employment, it is requested that he provide at least a 30-day advance notice to the Elder Board.
Action of the Elder Board to terminate the services of the Lead Pastor or to accept his resignation shall be subject to a two-thirds majority vote of the church membership at a called meeting. When a Lead Pastor is dismissed or resigns, the Elder Board may provide a severance package based on length of service and subject to the availability of funds.
The services of any other minister or Staff positions may be terminated by the Lead Pastor, provided a 30-day notice shall be given. No vote of the church membership is required.

General:

Section 1. PROPERTY: The title of all property of this church shall be held in the name of Restoration Life of Sacramento, California, a Corporation: and in this name all obligations, contracts, conveyances and acts of every nature shall be executed.

Section 2. FISCAL YEAR: The fiscal year shall be the calendar year.

Section 3. DISSOLUTION: In the event that Restoration Life of Sacramento no longer exists, any remaining assets will be freely given to the Growing Healthy Churches Network or another ministry that promotes the furthering of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in accordance with the Bible.

Limitation of Liability:

(a) Elders shall not be personally liable for the debts, liabilities, or other obligations of the Church.
(b) To the extent that a person who is, or was, an Elder, officer, employee or other agent of the Church has been successful on the merits in defense of any civil, criminal, administrative or investigative proceeding brought to procure a judgment against such person by reason of the fact that he or she is, or was, an agent of the Church, or has been successful in defense of any claim, issue or matter, therein, such person shall be indemnified against expenses actually and reasonably incurred by the person in connection with such proceeding.
(c) If such person either settles any such claim or sustains a judgment against him or her, then indemnification against expenses, judgments, fines, settlements and other amounts reasonably incurred in connection with such proceedings shall be provided by this Church but only to the extent allowed by and in accordance with state law.
(d) The Board may adopt a policy in the Board Policy Principles authorizing the purchase and maintenance of insurance on behalf of any agent of the Church against any liability other than for violating provisions of law relating to self-dealing asserted against or incurred by the agent; in such capacity or arising out of the agent’s status as such, whether or not the Church would have the power to indemnify the agent against such liability under the provisions of state law.

Board Policy Principles:

Mission Principles

MP1.0 Comprehensive Mission Principle
Restoration Life of Sacramento exists to “Go into the Community, Show the God is Alive, and Grow them into Disciples.” To this end we will attempt always to invest in ministries that take the truth of the Bible to the community we serve. Ours is a “go and show” model of ministry rather than a “come and see” model.

It is our goal to continually invest in church planting through financial investment, personnel resources and encouragement through coaching, sharing ideas and resources whenever possible.

MP1.1. Communication
The Lead Pastor shall maintain multiple channels of communication that are effective and timely with respect to the general categories listed below:
(a) Unchurched persons who are within our field of ministry; (b) Visitors and prospective new members; (c) Leaders within our church, each of whom must be equipped with information relating to our church’s vision, mission and values, plus internal affairs, denominational concerns, and mission activities; (d) Interested members and non-members who have expressed a desire to receive the information about the church.

Boundary Principles

BP1.0 Comprehensive Boundary Statement
The Lead Pastor shall not cause or allow any practice, activity,
decision or organizational circumstance that is unbiblical, unlawful,
unethical or imprudent.

BP1.1 Biblical and Moral Integrity
With regard to the teaching, leadership, and membership of the church, the Lead Pastor shall uphold high standards of biblical teaching and morality. It is expected that the Lead Pastor be in accountability with another man in the church who is Elder qualified and can vouch for his spiritual vitality.
BP1.2 Financial Planning and Budgeting
Financial planning for any fiscal year or the remaining part of any fiscal year shall not deviate materially from the Board’s Mission Principles, risk financial jeopardy, or fail to be derived from a multiyear plan.
BP1.2.1 General Budgeting Process
Prior to the start of a new fiscal year, the Lead Pastor or delegate will meet with the Finance Team Leader to draft a proposed budget for the next year. That proposal will be presented to the Elder Board for review, revised if necessary, and then presented to the Congregation for approval.
BP1.2.2 Expenditures within Projected Funds
The Lead Pastor shall not allow budgeting that plans the expenditure in any fiscal year of more funds than are conservatively projected to be received in that period, unless special circumstances are adequately described and approved by the Board.
BP1.2.3 Debt
The Lead Pastor shall not allow the church to incur debt without express written consent from the Board.

BP1.3 Financial Condition and Activities
With respect to the actual ongoing financial conditions and activities of the church, the Lead Pastor shall not allow the development of fiscal jeopardy or a material deviation of actual expenditures from Board priorities established in Mission Principles.

BP1.3.1 Expenditures
The Lead Pastor shall not expend more funds than have been received and budgeted in the fiscal year to date.
BP1.3.2 Reimbursement for Church Members
(a) The Lead Pastor shall not withhold reimbursement from church individuals making purchases on behalf of the church for actual expenses incurred for more than thirty days, as long as funds are available and these requests are submitted in writing to the bookkeeper and contain the following:
1) pre-approval from the head of the department that purchases were made, and 2) accurate and proper receipts to accompany the request. Accurate and proper receipts means a statement of expense or similar record maintained by the Staff/member in which the information as to each element of an expenditure is recorded at or near the time of the expenditure.
BP1.3.3 Long-Term Reserves
The Lead Pastor shall not divert any dedicated reserves from their intended use.
BP1.3.4 Inter-fund Shifting
The Lead Pastor shall not conduct inter-fund shifting without team approval. Team leaders must notify the Finance Team of said transfer.
BP1.3.5 Payroll and Debt Settlement
The Lead Pastor shall settle payroll and debts in a timely manner.
BP1.3.6 Government Payments and Filings
The Lead Pastor shall not allow tax payments, if any, or other government-ordered payments or filings to be overdue or inaccurately filed.
BP1.3.7 Purchase Cap-
The Lead Pastor shall not make a single purchase of greater than 5% of the annual budget, aside from Staff and non-discretionary expenses.
BP1.3.8 Real Property
The Lead Pastor shall not acquire, encumber, or dispose of real property, without written consent of the Board.
BP1.3.9 Contracts
The Lead Pastor shall not allow the church to enter into contractual obligations that it cannot realistically fulfill.

BP1.4 Asset Protection
The Lead Pastor shall not allow the assets to be unprotected, inadequately maintained, or unnecessarily risked.
BP1.4.1 Facilities and Equipment
The Lead Pastor shall not subject facilities and equipment to improper wear and tear or insufficient maintenance.
BP1.4.2 Liability
The Lead Pastor shall not unnecessarily expose the organization, its Board, or its Staff to claims of liability.
BP1.4.3 Auditor
The Lead Pastor shall not receive, process, or disburse funds under controls that are insufficient to meet the Board-appointed auditor’s standards.
BP1.4.4 Public Reputation
The Lead Pastor shall not endanger the organization’s public image or credibility, particularly in ways that would hinder its accomplishment of mission.
BP1.5 Treatment of Constituents
With respect to interactions with constituents or potential constituents, the Lead Pastor shall not cause or allow conditions, procedures, or decision that are unsafe, undignified, unnecessarily intrusive, or that fail to provide appropriate confidentiality or privacy.
BP1.6 Compensation and Benefits
With respect to employment, compensation, and benefits to employees, consultants, contract worker, and volunteers, the Board shall not cause or allow jeopardy to fiscal integrity or public image.

BP1.6.1 Lead Pastor Compensation
The Lead Pastor shall not change his or her own compensation and benefits.
BP1.6.2 Promise of Employment
The Lead Pastor shall not promise or imply permanent or guaranteed employment.
BP1.6.3 Market Value
The Lead Pastor shall not establish current compensation and benefits that deviate materially from the geographic or professional market for the skills employed.
BP1.6.4 Term of Compensation
The Lead Pastor shall not create compensation obligations over a longer term than revenues can be safely projected, in no event longer than one year, and in all events subject to losses in revenue.
BP1.6.5 Fairness of Benefits
The Lead Pastor shall not establish or change health or pension benefits so as to cause unpredictable or inequitable situations.
BP1.7 Treatment of Staff
With respect to the treatment of paid and volunteer Staff, the Lead Pastor may not cause or allow conditions that are unfair, disrespectful or undignified.
BP1.7.1 Confidentiality of Staff/Employee Information
The Lead Pastor shall not allow the unauthorized distribution of confidential personnel and Staff salary information with the exception of the Board, Church Treasurer, Church Accountants, and auditors.
BP1.7.2 Personnel Policies
The Lead Pastor shall provide staff with a working description of their duties and an annual review of such.
BP1.7.3 Grievance
The Lead Pastor shall not prevent Staff from expressing a grievance to the Board when both of the following conditions are met:
a) The supervisory procedures of the Lead Pastor have been exhausted, including informal talks and a formal supervisory conference with documentation.
b) The person alleges in a written application either that the boundary principles of the Board have been violated to his or her detriment or that the boundary principles do not adequately protect his or her human rights.
BP1.7.4 Notice
The Lead Pastor shall acquaint all Staff personnel with their rights according to these principles.
BP1.8 Communication and Support to the Board
The Lead Pastor shall not permit the Board to be uninformed or unsupported in its work.

Accountability Principles

AP1.0 Comprehensive Accountability Principle
The responsibility of the Elder Board before God is to see that Restoration Life of Sacramento, through the leadership of its Pastor, achieves its Mission Principles without violating its Boundary Principles.
AP1.1 Disciplining the Process of the Elder Board
The Elder Board shall conduct itself with discipline and integrity with regard to its own process of governance.

AP1.1.1 Board Style
The Board will govern with an emphasis on (1) outward vision rather than internal preoccupation, (2) strategic leadership more than administrative detail, (3) clear distinction between Board and Staff roles, (4) collective rather than individual decisions, (5) future focus rather than past or present, and (6) proactivity rather than reactivity.
AP1.1.2 Board Responsibility
The three essential responsibilities of the Board are to provide ministry and protection to the people served as well as the staff, define guiding principles, and monitor the performance of the Lead Pastor for the purpose of admonishing or encouraging him as the case may be.
AP1.1.3 Board Member Code of Conduct
The Board commits itself and its members to the following code of conduct:
a) Each Board member is expected to be a mature believer in Jesus Christ and a member of the church who embodies all the Biblical principles of 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:6-9; be fully committed to the, mission, vision and core values of the church; be supportive of the Lead Pastor; be involved in ministry in the church; be a regular attendee of church services; and be a tither to the church—or commits to do so.
b) Members of the Board must represent unconflicted loyalty to the interests of Jesus Christ regarding those whom He has called His church to serve (Matthew 18:19-20). This loyalty supersedes any personal or group interest among internal or outside consumers of the church’s services. A member must disclose any fiduciary conflict of interest and withdraw from any decision-making affected by it.
c) Members of the Board must honor the principles and decisions of the Board acting as a whole. They may not foster dissent or attempt to exercise individual authority over the Staff or the organization except as explicitly stated in the Guiding Principles.
d) Members of the Board must respect the confidentiality of sensitive Board issues and must avoid facilitating gossip or other “triangulation” against the practice of direct, biblical resolution
AP1.1.4 Responsibility of the Moderator for Integrity of Process
The Moderator assures the integrity and fulfillment of the Board’s process by leading the Board in undertaking its responsibilities. The Moderator is authorized to use any reasonable interpretation of the Accountability Principles as he acts to ensure the integrity of the Board’s process.

AP1.1.5 Responsibility of the Lead Pastor for Visionary Leadership
The Lead Pastor has the responsibility, authority, and accountability to serve as the primary and visionary leader of the church at every level: Congregation, Board, and Staff. With respect to the Board, the Pastor will lead the Board on all actions except those matters for which the Board is responsible. As to questions of process arising with regard to the Guiding Principles of the church, the Lead Pastor will defer to the judgment of the Moderator on the Board.
AP1.1.6 Use of Board Committees
Board committees, if used, will be assigned so as to reinforce the wholeness of the Board’s job and never to interfere with the delegation from the Board to the Lead Pastor or with the work of the Staff.
AP1.2 Monitoring the Performance of the Lead Pastor
AP1.2.1 Accountability of the Lead Pastor
The Board will hold the Lead Pastor accountable to the Guiding Principles while allowing the Lead Pastor to use reasonable and Spirit-directed interpretation of the principles.
AP1.2.2 Performance of the Lead Pastor
The Lead Pastor’s job performance will be reviewed annually according to the agreed upon expectations: church accomplishment of the Board’s Mission Principles, church operation within the Board’s Boundary Principles, and any other performance objectives agreed upon at the beginning of the year. It is the responsibility of the Board to do an annual assessment of the Lead Pastor’s compensation package. It is the role of the Lead Pastor to conduct annual performance reviews of all Staff.

Amendments to the Constitution:

Section 1. General: This Constitution may be amended at any regular or called meeting of the church by a two-thirds vote of those present, provided a quorum is present and voting. Proper notice of proposed changes shall be given at least two weeks before such meeting by placing the notice in the newsletter or by direct mail to the membership, if necessary, and by announcing the same from the pulpit at all services during each of said two weeks.

Section 2. Previous Constitution and Bylaws: This Constitution shall supersede all of the provisions of any previous Constitution, bylaws, or amendments thereto, provided, however, that all contracts, obligations, liabilities, and encumbrances heretofore entered into and incurred, shall remain in full force and effect.

Section 3. Effective Date: This Constitution shall be in full force and effect from the date of its adoption and last revision. This is the official Constitution as approved by the church.

Date Adopted: ___________________

Lead Pastor: _________________________________________

Elder: _________________________________________

Elder:

Was Jesus lying?

2008-06-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

In a recent Time Magazine article I was saddened to see the reality of our faith in America. So many good things have happened in our churches over the past couple of decades. We have seen denominations working together, people rediscovering that the gospel has social implications beyond the church walls, churches finding ways to be more attractive to the young people and more. But along with the advances, we have also discovered, as did Time Magazine, that our shift in focus has left us with some even greater loses. At the heart of Christianity is the hope that what is broken has been restored through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ is not the only way to God, then the Bible is a lie. Paul tells the first century Church that if Jesus did not rise from the dead then we preach in vain. Jesus said that He is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Him. The Bible teaches exclusivity. Today's Church is not so sure. See the article below from Time Magazine:

Americans of every religious stripe are considerably more tolerant of the beliefs of others than most of us might have assumed, according to a new poll released Monday. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life last year surveyed 35,000 American, and found that 70% of respondents agreed with the statement "Many religions can lead to eternal life." Even more remarkable was the fact that 57% of Evangelical Christians were willing to accept that theirs might not be the only path to salvation, since most Christians historically have embraced the words of Jesus, in the Gospel of John, that "no one comes to the Father except through me." Even as mainline churches had become more tolerant, the exclusivity of Christianity's path to heaven has long been one of the Evangelicals' fundamental tenets. The new poll suggests a major shift, at least in the pews.

The Religious Landscape Survey's findings appear to signal that religion may actually be a less-divisive factor in American political life than had been suggested by the national conversation over the last few decades. Peter Berger, University professor of Sociology and Theology at Boston University, said that the poll confirms that "the so-called Culture War, in its more aggressive form, is mainly waged between rather small groups of people." The combination of such tolerance with high levels of religious participation and intensity in the U.S., says Berger, "is distinctively American - and rather cheering. "

Less so, perhaps, to Christian conservatives, for whom Rice University sociologist D. Michael Lindsay suggests the survey results have a "devastating effect on theological purity." An acceptance of the notion of other paths to salvation dilutes the impact of the doctrine that Christ died to remove sin and thus opened the pathway to eternal life for those who accept him as their personal savior. It could also reduce the impulse to evangelize, which is based on the premise that those who are not Christian are denied salvation. The problem, says Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is that "the cultural context and the reality of pluralism has pulled many away from historic Christianity."

Quizzed on the breadth of the poll's definition of "Evangelical," Pew pollster John Green said the 296-page survey made use of self-identification by the respondents' churches, denominations or fellowships, whose variety is the report's overriding theme. However, he said, if one isolates the most "traditionalist" members of the white Evangelical group, 50% still agreed that other faiths might offer a path to eternal life. In fact, of the dozens of denominations covered by the Pew survey, it was only Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses who answered in the majority that their own faith was the only way to eternal life.

Analysts expressed some surprise at how far the tolerance needle has swung, but said the trend itself was forseeable because of American Christians' increasing proximity to other faiths since immigration quotas were loosened in the 1960s. Says Rice's Lindsay, the author of Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite: "If you have a colleague who is Buddhist or your kid plays with a little boy who is Hindu, it changes your appreciation of the religious 'other.' "

While the combination of Americans' religiosity - more than half those polled said was "very important in their lives" - and their tolerance for the beliefs of others may suggest creedal confusion, this appears not to trouble good-hearted U.S. pew-sitter. Says Lindsay, "The problem is not that Americans don't believe in anything, but that they believe in everything, and the two things don't always fit together." But he adds, the views are consistent with tolerant views expressed by evangelicals he met in various cities as he toured while promoting his book. Mohler agrees: "We've seen this coming," adding that the query about whether others can make it to heaven "has been the question I get asked by more college students and on my radio program." More so than Christ's divinity or Resurrection, he says, "the exclusivity of the Gospel is the most vulnerable doctrine in the face of the modern world."

Liberals and conservatives will interpret the numbers in different ways, says Pew's Green. "The liberal [interpretation] is that Americans are becoming more universalistic, religiously. The conservative one is that Americans are losing faith and becoming more accomodationist." But he says the truth may lie elsewhere. "Just because they don't want to believe that there's only one way to salvation doesn't meant that they don't take their religion very seriously."
The political implications of the Pew findings are more difficult to gauge. Green says that while Americans' unexpectedly high tolerance for one others' creeds might seem to blunt the sharp religious edge of some of today's campaign-trail discourse, it could also lead to larger religious coalitions around certain issues as pious believers overcome their inhibitions about working with others.

The survey's biggest challenge is to the theologians and pastors who will have to reconcile their flocks' acceptance of a new, polyglot heaven with the strict admission criteria to the gated community that preceded it

Forgive Us - the Church

2008-03-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

Forgive us? For what? Why are we asking forgiveness and who are we to speak for "the Church?" In the midst of real questions like these, let me share with you some of the reasons we are excited to seize the opportunity this Good Friday to take to the streets and ask our city to forgive us.

But before I do, let me be clear about what we are not asking forgiveness for. We are not apologizing for the truths of God's Word or the exclusiveness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 says, "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God." God never tells us to change the truth. We preach the truth and leave the results to God. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." The Apostle Paul writes, “There is no one righteous, no not one.” Is the message of the Church exclusive? Yes. Is Jesus the only way? Absolutely. Are there any exceptions? No.

Someone once said, “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.” Our verbal communication accounts for roughly 5% of what people hear when we talk. The other 95% is non-verbal. Because it is easier to manipulate or mask what you say than how you say it, people tend to believe our non-verbal communication more than our words. Have you ever met a Christian who talks about forgiveness, humility and speaking the truth in love and at the same time treats you poorly? Chances are your neighbor has. This is why we are asking forgiveness. Whether it’s for you or for your brothers and sisters or just for the sake of the good name of your Savior, this Friday you will have an opportunity to say, “forgive us, we didn’t mean to be offensive. We only meant to be truthful and compassionate.”

1 Peter 3:15 says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” Standing for the truth is important, but even more important is the way we go about it. Gentleness means power under control. When we reign-in our pride and share in humility the truth of the gospel we are able to find fertile ground. Respect means putting someone else above yourself. If you truly want the unchurched to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, it will require both gentleness and respect.

When we gather in the park and on K Street mall tomorrow we will be saying to the community who passes by, “Forgive Us, perhaps we have misled you.” Our message is hope through Jesus Christ and forgiveness of sins. Can we preach a message that is offensive to some with out doing it in a way that is offensive to all? With some humility, I believe we can.

Keeping it REAL

2007-11-27T19:10:00.000-08:00

What's the biggest problem with Christians today? Same as it's always been. We have a hard time keeping it REAL. What I mean is, we have the very Words of God recorded in the Bible. They are in a language we understand and a format we can easily access. The most important parts are the easiest to parts to understand. But we struggle to live them out. Be kind. Be patient. Be loving. Be humble. Be faithful. Be bold.

As we continue to work on living the truth of Scripture Restoration Life is committed to being REAL. We encourage you to join us in this journey. Do you know your plan to grow spiritually this year? Are you living it out in accountability? Do you need a coach, a friend or a mentor? REAL change is possible. So is REAL progress and REAL hope. If you are ready to keep it REAL, email us at pastormarc@restlife.net to schedule a SPIRITUAL CHECK-IN.

Panel Discussion on Election

2007-04-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

Election and Predestination: The Sovereignty of God in Salvation A Grace Bridge Panel Discussion
September 26, 2001
John MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Richard Mayhue
Carey Hardy - Moderator

Click here to download this MP3 message.
PASTOR HARDY: I do want to thank each of you for coming tonight. This is a special edition of Grace Bridge. In fact, that's what we termed this, Grace Bridge Special Edition. This past Wednesday evening, we began a study of the book of Ephesians. That's what we're doing this year. And, of course, the very first Chapter Verse 4 introduces a wonderful, important doctrine in scripture. It's the doctrine of election. The following verse then gives us the concept of predestination. It was wonderful. I can speak from personal experience in doing that study; it was wonderful to begin delving into those great truths. But to some people, these doctrines are confusing.
Tonight, we hope to bring clarity to these truths. And we're going to attempt to do this by way of a panel discussion, as you see, and some questions that I have accumulated that hopefully will stimulate that discussion. Our panel consists of our own Pastor here second to my right; you know our Pastor John MacArthur. It's a blessing to have him with us tonight. My immediate right, Dr. Dick Mayhue, is the Dean of the Master's Seminary. And on the far end, Phil Johnson, the Executive Director of Grace To You Radio.
We welcome each of you to jump in any time you want, regardless of what the question is. If you would like to answer that or add to it, augment it in any way, please feel free to do that, even though it's already been addressed.
I thought to begin our discussion, John, I would ask you perhaps to give us a summary or definition of what the doctrine of election is. What does that mean, and what is the relationship to predestination?
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Well, the doctrine of election simply means that God, uninfluenced and before creation, predetermined certain people to be saved.
PASTOR HARDY: That implies that there was a larger group of people out of which He made that choice. What group of people is that?
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Humanity.
PASTOR HARDY: Humanity? Is there a relationship between that and the doctrine of predestination? Are they the same or are they different concepts?
PASTOR MACARTHUR: No, I think it's essentially the same. Predestination simply identifies the point prior to time when God determined that He would elect. In other words, the election is the actual choice. Predestination simply identifies this as something that happened preliminary to time.
PASTOR HARDY: That would be the meaning then of that phrase "before the foundation of the world," before time ever began.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: There's also more in it than that. The second half of the word -- the first is "pre." The second half of the word is "destined," and that sort of takes you to the end. And the end of it is I think best summed up in Romans 8 that we are: "Predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son." So that God's elective purpose was to the glorification, that is the full and final salvation, of those whom He chose.
PASTOR HARDY: Well, it sounds like then it's clearly taught in scripture. But even though that's true, people attempt to explain it away. What are some things you have heard people attempt to do to attempt to explain these doctrines away? Any of you? Good. Someone else. It's your turn.
PASTOR JOHNSON: All right. I was going to sit up here, try to be quiet, and just look intelligent being in this company. Probably the most common evasion is from those who would see foreknowledge as something that figures into God's electing choice. And by that, they mean that He foreknew by looking ahead into the future to discover what was going to happen. And when He knew, when He learned through this foresight who was going to respond positively to the gospel, then He chose those people. And so, in effect, the choice is still theirs. But God saw it ahead of time and, therefore, He elected them because of the choice He knew they would make. That really evades the whole point, because it makes the choice the choice of the sinner, rather than the choice of God.
PASTOR HARDY: Well, you're saying then that that is not a biblical definition of foreknowledge.
PASTOR JOHNSON: Right.
PASTOR HARDY: It's a related issue, but it's not the biblical definition. What is foreknowledge then?
PASTOR JOHNSON: Dick, it's your turn.
DR. MAYHUE: Sure. Well, the word that's translated "foreknowledge" is the Greek verb "proginosko," which just literally means "to know before." And when it's talking about relationships, it's talking about something that occurred before something. And in this case, it goes back to the word "predestination." And that is that God had a predetermined relationship before time; that He had determined by unconditional election of those upon whom He would shower His grace, from a pool of those whom He knew would have fallen, and all were undeserving of anything that He might offer. And what Phil talked about is the classic Arminian view of election. They wouldn't deny God's foreknowledge of something. They just would redefine God's foreknowledge of something.
Basically, I think to get around two -- two stumbling blocks that people, I think, trip over all the time en route, trying to understand what the Bible says, which is frequent -- and I think we all would agree not only is it frequent, but it's really clear, if you just come to the Bible and ask what does it mean by what it says. And number one where I think a large majority of the people stumble, is over the total depravity of mankind. If you don't start with the total depravity of mankind, and understand that we are dead in our sins and trespasses, you'll never get unconditional election as the Bible teaches it. And it's one of the reasons, just as I was thinking through it today, some of the imagery that's used of salvation is, one, that we're born again; and two, that we've been resurrected. And how many dead people caused their own resurrection? And how many babies, before they were conceived, did something to lead to their birth? The answer is absolutely nothing. And I think that's why those analogies or pictures of life are used, because it points to all of humanity; dead in their sins and trespasses, personally culpable before God for their sins, deserving of nothing, and if God had only exercised His justice and His righteousness, only God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and the angels that didn't fall would be in heaven. God could have done that if He wanted to.
But John's done a great job with the little passages before time in the Titus 1, and pointing out God's desire to redeem a portion of mankind for Himself. So people fall over the total depravity of man, and there are all kinds of varieties. And Phil, who's the best, I think, of the historic points, go back to Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism, and all that could be involved in that.
The second one -- and it's really fresh in my mind 'cause I've been working on the openness of God issue in writing an article for our journal -- is we have a very hard time as human beings believing that we can't think on the same level as God. And it's deifying the human mind and humanizing the divine mind. And if we think we can understand everything that's in the mind of God, which we can't, we will then come to the conclusion that it's unfair, not right, for God to do what He does, because that makes Him a cosmic puppeteer, and all we are is people who go through life and everything we do and say and everything -- we have nothing to be involved in. And so the argument of free will issues -- and I could only find one passage in my New American Standard today -- where anything that has to do with man's choice was translated "free will." And it was in the context of Philemon 14. And all it meant was Paul said I'd like you to do this not out of compulsion, not that I've sort of jammed this down your throat, but I'd rather you do this out of the kindness of your heart. And I would suggest, maybe for discussion among us or for your thinking, that nowhere in the Bible does it suggest that man has a free will and that he acts independent of outside sources, conditions, people, et cetera. Man has a will. But Luther said it was a "will in bondage." And the Bible says that our will is always a slave. It's either a slave to sin, or a slave to righteousness.
So we need to park our pride on our humanity -- the ability to think and see ourselves as sinners, lost forever apart from God's unmerited favor and His grace, unconditionally bestowed by election -- and see ourselves as Isaiah saw the mind of God in Isaiah 55 -- it's either 8 and 9 or 10 and 11 -- that just clearly says you don't need to know Hebrew to get the point; that God's thoughts are so far above our thoughts that it's the difference between the distance from heaven, which we can't measure on earth. So those, just to kind of kick it back on Phil, are some of the things that saved people stumble over, much less unsaved people.
PASTOR HARDY: It's an interesting point then that people who are struggling with this doctrine may very well be in reality struggling with a different doctrine, the doctrine of the depravity of man, and also the character of God, who He is.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: I also think that Americans have a specially difficult time with this, because we don't know what a monarchy feels like. We have never lived under a sovereign ruler. We don't have any concept of that. You would find people historically in a culture where they're ruled by a king, who have a very clear understanding, and willingly bend their minds to the fact that somebody can actually be in charge. Not everybody is an elected official. Some people have a divine right to sovereignty. This is a bigger problem in America, I think, than it is in Europe. I mean as I travel around in Europe -- Phil, you found this to be true, too -- reform theology has -- wherever you find evangelicalism, you almost always find reformed theology, don't you? You come to America and wherever you find evangelicalism, you find Arminianism in one form or another, with few exceptions.
And it has to do with, I think, as much culturally, we just really have a hard time understanding that somebody is the king, and the king does whatever the king wants to do. And the King of the universe does exactly what He wants to do, whenever He wants to do it. And to show you how far and wide this goes, I picked up yesterday an e-mail deal from a pastor out at the Saddleback Community Church trying to respond to the recent disaster. And one of the things he said in this was that, you know, this wasn't God's will. In fact, he said, God's will is rarely ever done. That is a really bizarre statement. Because what that does is turn God into a victim. You really only have two possibilities; either God determines who is redeemed, or man does. That's it. I mean it's not a real complex problem, not a lot of factors. There's just those two options. Now, if you believe that man does, then you have to answer what Dick just brought up: How does a person who doesn't exist birth himself? By analogy, how does a person who's dead raise himself from the dead? Every imagery of the scripture that defines a totally depraved person puts them in an impossible state. On the other hand, nothing in the Bible indicates that man determines his own salvation. Everything indicates that God does. So I think we have a bigger problem with that here. And we don't like the idea of not being free, you know. We want to have the freedom to choose whatever we want to choose. And that may be the American way, but that isn't the biblical way.
PASTOR JOHNSON: Just to piggyback on that and to add another answer to your original question: One of the ways I've seen people, particularly in America, avoid the doctrine of election is to turn it into a kind of democratic election. You've seen that tract that says: Here's election. God voted for you; Satan voted against you; you cast the deciding vote, you know; you determine your destiny. And all of these evasions of the --
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Well, that's a frightening thing; that God and Satan have an equal vote.
PASTOR JOHNSON: I thought the same thing.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: All are frightening than that you would have a vote.
PASTOR JOHNSON: The problem is knowing my own heart; that's right.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Yes.
PASTOR JOHNSON: And if it depended on my vote, the vote I cast, I would have been doomed long ago. But all these evasions have this in common; that they end up making man the captain of his soul, you know, the master of his fate, the decider of his own destiny. If God looks into the future to see who's going to believe, you have two problems there. Number one, that means that the believer himself is the one who made the decisive choice, not God. And that goes against dozens of scriptures that say God is the one who chooses. Jesus said to the disciples: You haven't chosen Me; I chose you. And in Thessalonians, Paul writes to the Thessalonians and emphasizes the fact that they are saved by God's choice, God's choice. And then the other problem with that is that ultimately, ultimately, if it's my choice, I'm going to make the wrong choice. It goes back to what Dick said about bondage and the total depravity, the bondage of the world.
PASTOR HARDY: Since the terms have been used, perhaps a little bit of a history lesson here is in order. The term "Arminian" has been used, and "Pelagian." What is "Arminianism" and what is "Pelagianism," and how does that relate to this? Phil, I know you love to study history. Help us with that.
PASTOR JOHNSON: "Pelagianism," to put it as simply as I know how, starts with the denial of the doctrine of original sin. It's a denial that Adam's sin in any way affects his progeny. So that all of us are born essentially blank slates, and we have -- we have the choice. And again, this all hinges on human choice; we have the choice to be good or evil. And we're evil by our own choice, not because of any sinful tendencies or guilt that we inherited from Adam. That's where Pelagianism starts. And out of that, you get a totally graceless theology. Because ultimately, if it's my choice, whether it be good or evil, then I can save myself. I can redeem myself, simply by choosing to be good. And hard core Pelagians, that's exactly what they teach. Charles Finney was a classic example who fell into this. Basically said: Look, you want to be saved, just choose not to sin; stop sinning and you can be saved. He even preached a sermon called "Make for Yourself a New Heart," where he taught that as an unredeemed person you could, by sheer force of your will, change your own heart, contrary to what scripture teaches. And you could, therefore, redeem yourself. The problem with all this is it gives the sinner credit that he doesn't deserve. And also lays a burden on his back that he can't possibly bear because of his --
PASTOR MACARTHUR: It diminishes the glory of God.
PASTOR JOHNSON: And diminishes -- it eliminates the grace of God from the gospel. Pelagius, who was a contemporary of Augustine -- and Augustine was the chief one who wrote against him. Augustine said of Pelagius: He seems to mention grace in his writings only to avoid the embarrassment of having not mentioned it; it doesn't really have any role in his teaching. And I think that's -- that is the best refutation of Pelagianism that I've ever heard. It's graceless.
PASTOR HARDY: How does that relate to Arminianism?
PASTOR JOHNSON: Arminianism, I would classify most Arminianism as a kind of semi-Pelagianism. After Pelagius passed from the scene and his teaching was declared a heresy, there arose a new sort of modification of Pelagius' teachings -- semi-Pelagianism, that's the technical name for it -- that taught okay, well, we were damaged by Adam's sin, it did affect us, we did inherit sinful tendencies, but -- and different semi-Pelagians treat it different ways -- but the most common view is God just gives grace to all of humanity, and restores us to the place where we can make a free choice. And so again, like with Pelagianism, semi-Pelagianism puts all the emphasis on free will.
PASTOR HARDY: Just denies the doctrine of total depravity.
PASTOR JOHNSON: In effect, it does. They'll say, well, yes, we were born depraved, but common grace erases that depravity and gives us the ability to make a free will choice.
PASTOR HARDY: So his thinking is free to make that choice.
PASTOR JOHNSON: Yes.
DR. MAYHUE: Yes. As a matter of fact, the five points of Calvinism didn't come from Calvin's mind. It came from the five points of Jacob Arminius. That was the reverse image then. And the first point is total depravity --
PASTOR JOHNSON: That's right.
DR. MAYHUE: -- and the other side is semi-Pelagianism --
PASTOR JOHNSON: Calvin never systemized his doctrine into five points. That all came up after he died. And these Arminian remonstrants put together a document where they said we disagree on these five points. And so the five points really stemmed from the teaching the Arminians. And if you wanted to summarize Arminian teaching, it's the opposite of the five points of Calvinism.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: They got it all wrong, all five of those points.
DR. MAYHUE: But you don't care. Even if you -- we go back to Calvin and Jacob Arminius and then back to the fourth century with Pelagian and Augustine, you go back to the gospels. And it's clear as a bell in John 6 that Jesus was saying: "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it's been granted him from the Father." Just talking about election and predestination. Verse 66. "And as a result of this" teaching, "many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore." It's -- it confronts the human being that thinks there's something good about him, or that in some way he can think at the level of God. I think it's at the point that you realize that you're bankrupt spiritually, and that you can't even be within the galaxy of God mentally and, like a child, come to the scriptures. John's message from Matthew 10, unless you be like a child --
PASTOR MACARTHUR: I think the fallout of all this, too, is standard, typical American evangelism, which attempts to manipulate the man or the woman, soft-sell the gospel, take the offense out, entertain them, do whatever you need to do, because this is all about getting this person to make a decision. And that whole concept of decisions and invitations and, you know, umpteen verses of just-as-I-am, and all of the things that go with it, is an effort to manipulate, because it's based upon essentially a semi-Pelagian-Arminian view that man is the ultimate decider. And I mean Finney launched that entire thing, you know. He said the whole idea of evangelism is to manipulate people's minds to get them to the point where they make this decision; which, you know, is essentially how American evangelism is done, far and wide.
PASTOR HARDY: In fact, there's a statement in the book, The Purpose for the Church, that says something like this: In a worship service, their goal is to get people's muscles to relax, the unbelievers to relax, so that they can somehow be in a better frame of mind.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Well, more people get saved when their muscles are relaxed, than don't.
PASTOR HARDY: Yes. That was their argument.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: In fact, the author of the book says that he said if -- I don't remember the exact words, but something like this, pretty close -- if I can find a person's sort of felt needs, hot button, I can lead anyone to Christ. And that is essentially the view. And then when the same pastor says, you know, God didn't will this, in fact, God's will is rarely done, you have the huge theological context in which he operates. He, I guess, feels that the whole issue of salvation somehow is his engagement with the person. That is a very heavy responsibility. I mean if you really believed that the salvation of people depended upon your cleverness, be hard to sleep.
PASTOR HARDY: It's a tremendous burden to carry as a pastor.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Yes.
DR. MAYHUE: Carey, can I come back to the stumbling blocks just a little bit? One of the things that people really want to stumble over in -- in all of this is trying to understand what Calvinism is and what Calvinism isn't. But Calvinism becomes kind of the target for everybody's objections. And -- but there's a brand of Calvinism that's called "double predestination." That means that God, by his decisive will, elected some to heaven and some to hell before the foundation of the world, and everything just takes its toll. As far as I know, none of us are double predestinarians.
PASTOR JOHNSON: I would ask you to define it more carefully than that before I would disassociate myself from it, but --
DR. MAYHUE: We might have a controversy tonight. We were thinking we wouldn't.
PASTOR JOHNSON: We've got to --
DR. MAYHUE: But to the mind, to say that somebody has been predestined to hell prior to the time that they ever lived their life -- rather than what the Bible says, and John's preached on this numerous times -- man is held responsible for his sins not because he's not elect, but because he's responsible for his sins. And it's on the basis of his sin, which hasn't been cared for by Christ, that he's consigned to hell; the Great White Throne Judgment of Revelation 20. But that's very, very annoying to lots and lots of people. But it's a caricature. It's not a true picture of either what Calvin taught or what the Bible taught. And I think Phil was just --
PASTOR JOHNSON: Just to clarify that: The error there I would call equal ultimacy; that God -- the idea that some people have is that God appoints some people to heaven, some people to hell, and then He is as active in making those people on their way to hell evil, as He is active in making those people on their way to heaven good. And obviously, scripture doesn't teach that or wouldn't affirm it. That's a doctrine I would call equal ultimacy. There's a -- there's a sense in which, if God chose whom He would save and before the foundation of the world, left everyone else, passed over them, left them in their sins, then their destiny is determined as well. It's determined. But it isn't by any active effort on God's part that they are made evil. It's their own fault. I think what is --
DR. MAYHUE: Right. Phil and I are agreeing, but we're just coming at it from different angles. And the other thing that people stumble over: If God is sovereign, and He is, if He predestined, and He did, if He elected, and He did, and if man is responsible, and they are, then how do you reconcile that? And there's lots of bobbing heads out there. You haven't got any more clue than Phil, John or I --
PASTOR HARDY: But let me ask you this. Let me ask you --
DR. MAYHUE: -- how that's reconciled, because the Bible doesn't tell us this. It tells that God's sovereign, man is responsible, when we get to heaven he'll tell us something else that'll make sense. And, in the meantime, Clark Venik, Rick Boyd and others are trying to outthink God. And in the meantime, they're light years beyond the Arminians, and the heresy.
PASTOR HARDY: Yet, the Bible does say things like this: God, in some sense, loves the whole world. How do you reconcile that kind of teaching in scripture with what we've said already about election?
PASTOR JOHNSON: How much longer do you want us to go with that? John wrote a whole book on that subject.
PASTOR HARDY: Well, let's let him answer it.
DR. MAYHUE: Good idea.
PASTOR JOHNSON: Can we leave?
PASTOR MACARTHUR: No, no, no. This'll be brief, 'cause I've been preaching all day today for about eight or nine hours, so I'm pretty well spent. But, you know, first of all, let me back up a little bit and say: Before you start debating all of the fall-out, you need to affirm that the Bible teaches election and predestination. You are turning a corner here fast on this. Because before we start, well, what-about-this, what-about-this, what-about-this, I think people are into the what-about-this before they've ever established the doctrine. And it has to start with an understanding that the Bible is clearly teaching that. You have, well, start with Abraham, for example. God chose Abraham for no particular reason out of other people that He might have chosen, just picked him up, plucked him up, took him to the land of Canaan, and out of him came the people of Israel. He even calls Israel "mine elect." Chose Israel. Why? Richard Wolfe years ago said: "How odd of God to choose the Jews." And why did He do that? Well, why didn't He choose somebody else, like Moabites or Malakites or Mideonites or -- there's no answer to that. He didn't choose them because they were better than other people, 'cause they weren't. He didn't choose them, He says in Deuteronomy, because they were more than other people, because they weren't. He just determined to set His love on them.
You even have Christ "mine elect." And then the church is continually called "elect." And you have, as was commented on, John 6, where Jesus says: No one comes unto Me except the father draw him. "And all the Father gives to Me shall come to Me," and all of those. So you have to in your mind establish that doctrine unequivocally. Then on the other side, you have to also establish that the scripture holds the sinner completely accountable and culpable for his sin. That's clear, too. I think before you start messing around in the middle, you need to establish those two things very, very clearly. The "soul that sins shall die," the "wages of sin is death." God, as Phil said, does not participate in the evil of the sinner. He doesn't generate it and He doesn't escalate it. And He doesn't like it. So the sinner operates out of fallenness, and is culpable and responsible for his sin.
There's another thing you have to understand, and that is -- now we're where you brought up the question -- God does say he loves humanity, and there is a universal love of God that manifests itself in common grace, manifests itself in temporal, physical deliverance from death; the sinners live and enjoy life. It manifests itself in a universal call of the gospel; it manifests itself in the tears of Jesus; it manifests itself in the compassion of God; weeping through the eyes of Jeremiah. That's a real love.
So God elects those that are saved; those that perish do so without any help from God. He is, as Phil said, passive. And you see that in Romans 9 where God is fitting vessels unto salvation. But vessels are being fitted unto damnation, and God is passive in that. It is also true that God does love humanity, and manifests that in common grace, as I said. Now, having said that you believe all of that, you now have a problem. And that is that your brain can't handle all of that information and bring complete resolution. But that's okay; because if you could, you wouldn't be human. There are things that only God can understand. And I really do believe that. I'm very content with that. That's one of the reasons I know the Bible is written by God, because men would fix it. If I wrote a book that had those contradictions, Phil would edit them all out. One of the bench marks of divine inspiration is the fact that you're dealing with transcendence. And an element of transcendence is the inability to grasp fully everything. So you're content to believe what the scripture clearly reveals. And yet, we're told to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And so there is a universal offer that, from the standpoint of God is a legitimate offer, and which, sad to say, even heightens the culpability of the sinner, because if he treads under his feet the covenant and counts the -- Christ as an unholy thing, his punishment is even greater. So God doesn't have a problem harmonizing all that. Man, playing God, coming up with his concoctions in the middle, tends to destroy that all.
PASTOR JOHNSON: Carey, just to answer your question further, too, about the love of God. I think it's important to make a distinction that the love of God for His elect, His people, is of a different nature than His love for humanity. His love for humanity is a real love. It's a genuine compassion. And just to illustrate: You're my neighbor; you're my fellow pastor; I love you. But I also love my wife, and I love her with a totally different quality and intensity of love than the love with which I love you. It's two different kinds of love all together. And yet, that's not to minimize the type of love with which I love my neighbor. It's a real love; it's a genuine love; it's a heartfelt compassion. But it's not of the same kind of love as I love my wife. And it's that way with God. He loves the whole world, yes. He's a God of compassion; and his mercies are over all his works. Scripture says over and over again: If you want to be like God, Matthew 5, "love your enemies," because God is good to everyone. He loves everyone. But, His love for His elect is a whole different level of love. It's a superior kind of love. That's what makes salvation so special. That's what makes our relationship with Him so unique.
PASTOR HARDY: In what sense is He, as the scriptures say, the Savior of all men, but yet, especially to the elect, He is a Savior?
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Yeah. Well, all that means is that He's the Savior of all men in a physical, temporal sense. All you have to do is look at the fact that the world is full of unbelievers who live, to know that God by nature is a Savior. I mean it's His nature not to destroy the sinner, when the sinner deserved destruction. I mean Adam sinned. Should have died on the spot, and that would have been a just act. But he didn't. He lived, what, 960 years? I mean that's grace. And that tells us that God, even on a temporal, physical level, is a Savior. The world is full of unconverted people. And there's every reason to think and to be right in thinking that the justice of God demands death; that death could come the first time anybody sins. But that's what Romans 2 calls the patience and forbearance of God. He is so patient and forbearing that He lets the sinner live and live and live and live. And the Psalmist even gets to the point where he says not only do they live, but they prosper. And the question is, you know: Why do the wicked prosper, and why are the righteous oppressed? So the fact is that God, by nature, is a Savior. And He shows that by giving people life. Tried to point that out when we were doing the message a couple Sunday nights ago. So the real question, as I said then, is not, you know, why do certain people die, but why do most people live? Because that's an evidence that God, it's just His nature to save. And with regard to believers, the little adverb melista, something on the same order, but especially of believers. He's our Savior not physically and temporally, but spiritually and eternally. But then, that's where He manifests the ultimate nature as a Savior.
PASTOR HARDY: How does this doctrine fit with verses that also teach it is man's responsibility to believe and to repent? It's a command from God to do that. Man is expected to obey that command. How does this doctrine fit with that?
PASTOR JOHNSON: Well, you have to understand that our responsibility is not limited by our ability. Scripture commands us to do a lot of things that we are morally incapable of doing. One that come to mind preeminently is "Be perfect the way God is perfect." I can't obey that command. And yet, is it my duty to do that? Yes, absolutely. So the fact that our ability is limited does not limit our responsibility. That's the error of both Arminianism and hyper-Calvinism; they assume that if our ability is limited, then so must our responsibility be limited. But scripture doesn't teach that. Scripture calls us to many duties that we cannot possibly fulfill. And it is the duty of all to believe, to trust Christ, to repent. And yet, they don't have the moral ability unless God gives it to them, which is the very thing that ought to drive us constantly to dependence on the grace of God. There's so many things God commands of us that we simply cannot do, that our entire lives ought to be lived just simply depending on His grace, because that's only the power that supplies the ability to do these things. And we can't do it.
DR. MAYHUE: Carey, I think that brings it right back to the thing that John and I were talking about. Theologians would call it an antonymy; two seemingly irreconcilable ideas, God's sovereignty, man's responsibility. But irreconcilable only if we don't have additional data. And the point that John made was a good one. And that is you can read anywhere in the old, you can read anywhere in the new, John talked about individuals, talked about nations.
I once did a study of all of the verbs in the New Testament that are used outside of God "elected" and God "predestined." And here's a little bit of them: God wills, God draws, He grants, He calls, He appoints, He prepares, He causes, He chooses, purposes, delivers, transfers, saves, makes alive, brings us forth, justifies, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And if you just read right through the New Testament looking for verbs, the only thing you could conclude is however God fits into salvation, He is the initiator and He is determinative, regardless of what humanity does or doesn't do.
PASTOR JOHNSON: He's the author and finisher.
DR. MAYHUE: And my own opinion would be that all we can do is go to the Bible. And it says that God is sovereign; and it says that man is responsible. And maybe I could just show one passage to shed a little light of the word on it from the teaching of our Lord. You go back to the gospels. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28: "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me," and so on. And that's a great Arminian verse, because it talks about human responsibility. But just immediately prior to that in Verse 27, which is a part of the same speech, He says: "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." And if it wasn't God's will to reveal the Son as the Savior, and the Father as the provider of the deliverer, no one then could come. And the most significant thing is Jesus didn't footnote his message by explaining how to reconcile those two apparently irreconcilable ideas. Paul in Philippians 2 -- it would be the same idea -- and I'll let my colleagues take over from there. But in Verse 13 it says: "For it is God who is at work in you, both the will and to work for His good pleasure." And we say we can just sit back and do nothing in our Christian life, if we haven't read Verse 12, that says you're to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling." No matter where you go, God is sovereign, God's determinative; man is responsible, and man participates with his will. But he doesn't have free will to determine, and he doesn't have free will to override.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: So that even a believer is responsible for his own failures and sins, but gets no credit for doing what is right.
DR. MAYHUE: Exactly.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Now, if I look at my own life, that's the most intimate view of Christianity I have. I don't understand it. I mean in my own life -- I think I understand the Bible pretty well, you know, the theology of it. But as it operates in my own life, it is absolutely beyond my comprehension. I just know that if anything right happens, the Lord strengthened me to that end. If anything wrong happens, it's my fault. I can't blame it on His failure.
I think a verse that comes to mind just, you know, I throw a lot of things in this verse, Romans 11:33: "Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" In other words, you start talking about the "wisdom and knowledge of God," you're getting in too deep to swim. "How unsearchable are his judgments, and His ways past finding out." At some point, you just say: Look, I can't find out. Sorry. I'd like to get a -- people come to me and ask me could you answer this? And sometimes, I'll say: I'm not sure what the answer is, but I'll find out.
But when they ask me how do you resolve predestination and human volition, I say that's past finding out. That isn't even in the MacArthur Study Bible. I don't know the answer to that. But I do know this. Verse 36: "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: To whom be glory forever. Amen." I mean so you end up worshipping His transcendence. You end up worshipping His unsearchable nature.
DR. MAYHUE: And that would be why, John, in Ephesians Chapter 1 Verses 3 to 14, which might be the greatest single compact --
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Longest sentence --
DR. MAYHUE: -- talking about the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit; what they did with regard to our salvation. Every one of them ends with a little phrase in various forms in Verse 6; what the Father did was "to the praise of the glory of His grace," what He did through the Son, Verse 12, was "to the praise of His glory," and Verse 14, what He did through the Spirit was "to the praise of His glory." And if man had anything to do with it, it would rob God of His glory, whom He said in Isaiah: "To no one will I give my glory." So no matter where you look -- what verbs, what words, what passage, Old or New Testament -- it comes back to there's a truth that God's sovereign; there's a truth that man's responsible. And in the scriptures, God has not given us the revelation to make the bridge between the two, so that we could cognitive, philosophically, logically rectify it all and reconcile it all, and answer every human question that'd ever come. And I -- my own take of that, He's done it, because it forces us then to be people of faith, and to recognize that God's mind is galaxies beyond our own.
PASTOR JOHNSON: We have to embrace both sides of that truth. You find it right throughout scripture. I mean Paul says work out your own salvation "with fear and trembling." You hear Arminians who love to quote that verse. But what's the next verse? Remember? "For it's God Who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." So, yeah, work out your salvation. But just remember, it's God in you doing that.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: But all the commands of the New Testament are to me --
PASTOR JOHNSON: That's right.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: -- not to God, to me.
PASTOR JOHNSON: So the responsibility is your --
PASTOR MACARTHUR: And I'm told to keep my body into subjection.
PASTOR JOHNSON: The responsibility is yours. And the only source of ability is from Him.
DR. MAYHUE: And in that passage, it's like Matthew 11, Paul didn't take the next verse, Verse 14, and try to explain what seems to be a contradiction, because in his mind there was no contradiction. They both are true. You just accept it by faith.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: I think a verse that comes back to mind -- it just adds another dimension to this -- is in Matthew, I think it is 22, where Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, and actually says: "How oft I would have gathered you ... as a hen gathereth her brood, but you would not." That is really amazing. How many times I wanted to embrace you, but you never allowed me to do that. I mean that's talking about the sinner's unwillingness, the raw resistance to the love of God that is characteristic of the sinner. And that makes Jesus weep. And He's God. So, you know, when scripture says in the Old Testament that "I find no pleasure in the death of the wicked," that's the same kind of attitude. So, I think you have to add that fact there. You can't turn God into some cold, unfeeling entity. It's just, you know, like deterministic without any compassion. That's not the case. So when you put all of this together, remember, Jesus said: I wanted to draw you in, but you wouldn't let Me, which is an amazing statement. And again points up the fact that the sinner has to be willing to respond. And when they're not, it's a grief to the heart of God.
PASTOR HARDY: The broader subject that we are really discussing is the sovereignty of God in salvation, God's role in salvation, every aspect of it. It's not just election and predestination. God did that, but He did more. And with that in mind, how would you answer this objection: That there will be people who desperately want to be saved, but since they're not elect, they can't be. And there will be people who don't want to be saved, who will be drug screaming and kicking, into heaven. What's a further explanation of God's total role in salvation?
PASTOR MACARTHUR: What verse is that, Carey?
PASTOR JOHNSON: Yeah. See if you go back --
PASTOR HARDY: Question number 10.
PASTOR JOHNSON: -- what Dick said at the outset is exactly right here. It -- all this hinges on and stems from the doctrine of total depravity, and a person who understood human depravity wouldn't raise that objection, because he would understand that there are no depraved people who really want to know God. The thing is they hate God. Romans 8 Verses 7 and 8 says they can't -- they're not capable of loving God or pleasing Him or even obeying Him. They cannot do it. It's impossible for them, because their hearts are so fixed against Him. So there's no possibility that anyone would ever say well, I wish I could know God, but He didn't choose me. And on the other hand, it's also not true that anyone who would resist salvation would be dragged kicking and screaming against his will into it, because what God does in His regenerating work is give us a new heart, a heart of love for Him. And so he changes that animosity that we are born with towards God into a love for Him. That's what we mean by irresistible grace. That's another -- that's the eye in the tulip. And it's not irresistible in the sense that God forces his grace upon us. I use this illustration. It's irresistible in the same sense that my wife is irresistible to me. I find her charms, her beauty, irresistible. And that's what God does when He is drawing someone to Christ. He makes Christ irresistible to us in that sense. So that it's not by force; it's not by compulsion.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: And yet, there are people -- and this has happened to me many times -- who say: I guess I'm just not chosen. And that comes from people who, for the most part, make some kind of commitment to Christ, but just can't live a life that serves the Lord. They just can't get over some besetting sin. They just -- they can't, you know, get out of some bad relationship or over some pornography or -- I don't know what it is; it's varying things. There are sins that beleaguer certain people. And, you know, they make this confession; I want to be saved and I -- so they finally get to the point where they're just absolutely exhausted with this battle that they're fighting. And they'll say, you know, maybe I'm just not chosen. In fact, there's a guy in the church here who probably said that to me 25 times over a period of years: I must not be chosen; I must not be chosen. And the truth of the matter was, you know, I would drive him back to Romans 7 and have him read what Paul said: The things I want to do I don't do; the things I don't want to do, I do. Oh, poor me, I'm not chosen. No. I mean it's only a question of degree. We're all in the same battle. I mean we could all come to the conclusion: I must not be chosen, I must not be chosen, I can't get over this proverbial hump here. When do I -- when do I hit the slide? You know, when do I stop climbing this thing and start sliding? Well, isn't going to happen.
You don't want to second-guess your salvation, which manifests itself in a love for Christ and a longing to be what you can't be to some degree. You see, you need to see some fruit. But as I tell the kids at the college all the time, you know: People say to me, well, am I ever going to get over sin? Am I ever going to -- is there ever going to be a decreasing frequency of sin? And, of course, I say: Sure. As you mature in Christ, there'll be a decreasing frequency of sin. You'll sin less. But because of your spiritual maturity, you'll hate sin more. So you'll sin less and feel worse. That's how it is. I mean only a very mature believer could make the statements that Paul made in Romans Chapter 7. An immature believer wouldn't even understand that.
PASTOR HARDY: What if somebody said well, based upon my understanding of election, it seems like you are encouraging sin. If I am elect, if my eternal destination is secure, what does holiness matter? I can do whatever I want; I'm secure.
PASTOR JOHNSON: That's your question.
PASTOR HARDY: Or --
PASTOR MACARTHUR: I mean that fails to understand the new creation. If there's anything that defines a regenerated believer, it's that they don't think like that.
DR. MAYHUE: That's what the book of 1st John's all about.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Yes. If you, you know, if any man continues in sin, you know, he doesn't know the Lord. That's the whole 1st John; that's the whole thing. I mean if you're still -- if you think salvation is some kind of a license for you to sin without impunity and judgment, you're not saved. Because the person who is converted has a new heart. Ezekiel 36: "A new heart ... and a new spirit..." New longings, new aspirations, new desires. And that's not the perfection of their life, but it is the direction of it.
PASTOR JOHNSON: Carey, if somebody asked me that question, I would hand them a copy of The Gospel According to Jesus.
PASTOR HARDY: Which was my answer, of course.
PASTOR JOHNSON: Yes.
PASTOR HARDY: So I'm glad you said that. I can't help but think of Paul's words, too, in Romans as he talked about grace. And then he says, well, if that be true, then we can sin all we want so that grace can abound. And he says in a very strong language in a negative way: In no way; may it never be -- that a Christian wouldn't do that.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Let me tell you something. Somebody who doesn't believe in the doctrine of election, somebody who doesn't understand sovereign grace, somebody who comes through some Arminian approach and gets manipulated into salvation, is the kind of person -- whether they were saved or not, gets manipulated into a decision -- is precisely the kind of person that would think like that. That's why you preach the sovereignty of God. You know, people say oh, you don't want to tell non-believers that; you don't want to preach that heavy stuff to people. Oh, yes, you do. Because then they can know when they've genuinely been converted, because they've grasped the deep truths. They've counted the cost. They understand what's at stake. But that is a typical, typical kind of response where there's no particular love for holiness; there's no particular concern for obedience. It's just a continued worldly, fleshly life. And that's because people were manipulated into a decision that they think they made. And once they made the decision, that's the end of it. I mean everything's all settled. They can live any way they want. God really isn't that involved to start with; so what do they owe Him?
PASTOR JOHNSON: If you carry that too far, Carey, you're right back to the point where you're putting the entire burden for salvation right back on the sinner's shoulders. It's his job then to perform well, to stay faithful. And hard core Arminians believe that, you know, every time you sin, you lose your salvation, which really in practice is no different from Pelagian theology. Ultimately, it's --
PASTOR MACARTHUR: But the new deal is -- the new deal is you're eternally secure; you can just do whatever you want.
PASTOR JOHNSON: Yeah.
PASTOR HARDY: Once saved, always saved.
PASTOR JOHNSON: Oh, once saved, always saved. That theology --
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Once saved, always saved, and never sanctified.
PASTOR JOHNSON: You can get yourself in --
PASTOR MACARTHUR: You just get saved and glorified.
PASTOR JOHNSON: You can get yourself in by this Arminian view, but you can't do anything to get yourself out. Once you're saved, you're in. You get the credit for having got there, and you can't do anything to lose it.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Let me tell you: This country is literally filling up with those kind of converts under this seeker-friendly approach in churches. Because the whole idea of seeker-friendly ministry is basically to appeal to people's fleshly lusts. Bottom line: What do they want? They want what makes them feel good. Felt needs. That's the flesh. Has nothing to do with the spirit; has nothing to do with the soul; has nothing to do with God. So as soon as you gear your ministry to fleshly lusts, you're on the wrong wavelength to start with. And then you give 'em an Arminian kind of gospel, where they save themselves by making a decision, and there's really -- now what you've got them basically convinced of is that the church is all about hey, whatever feels good to me, that's what it is. And so that's the way they live their lives. And the church fills up with, you know, the unconverted living in a deception.
DR. MAYHUE: That was the church I grew up in was the United Methodist Church. They had a lot of Arminianism in it.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: How did you ever get your job here?
DR. MAYHUE: I've come a long way.
PASTOR JOHNSON: I grew up as a United Methodist, too.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Oh, unh, good.
PASTOR HARDY: Just want you to know I didn't, John.
DR. MAYHUE: And my dad and mom always thought I was saved, because they had me on the front row of the church. And when I got converted in 1970 in California, they thought I had joined a cult with the land of fruit and nuts out here. And it was a wonderful thing to be able to tell them, although it irritated them, that God had saved me; the Methodist church hadn't saved me. And that they needed to be saved, because the Methodist church hadn't saved them. It's a damning, deadening doctrine, if you don't believe in the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. But the night I got saved, it was a five-point message. And I went to church to get some people off of my back who insisted I go to church. And it was Monday night in a Baptist church. And the guy that was preaching wasn't -- I wouldn't call him a deep preacher, but he did preach the truth. And John knows who it was. And he got to point three. And point three was: You're a sinner. And at that point, my whole world, my whole life, my whole thinking totally changed. And it was like I was in darkness, and all of a sudden, I was in light. And it was obvious I was going to go to hell without whatever God was going to do to save me. And I think it would be safe to say that without regeneration, there is no true repentance. But with true repentance, there will be a diminishing appetite for sin, period. Because it's the Spirit of God at work in us who's given as a part of the gift of salvation.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: I would think you have to humble yourself before all these doctrines, right? I mean you just have to bow your knee and just humble yourself before these things, and don't demand that God explain every iota of every issue to you so you can understand it. You're not that important in the big scheme of things; neither am I; any of us.
PASTOR HARDY: Doesn't this doctrine eliminate the place and the motivation for evangelism and prayer, the doctrine of election?
PASTOR JOHNSON: I would say quite the opposite. In fact, I remember very clearly my first year as Christian. I went to a Southern Baptist church, training union. You know, you know how that is, because you came out of the Southern Baptist background. We were sitting around discussing evangelism and the sovereignty of God. And one of the girls said, well, you know -- and the teacher was, by the way, saying that God is not sovereign; it's totally up to human free will; it's the individual's choice. And she said if that's the case, why do we pray for people to be saved? If God's already done everything He can do to save them, and now it's all up to them, what's the point in talking to God about it? Shouldn't we be pleading with the person instead? And this trainer union leader said yeah, I never thought about that, but you're right. There's no point in praying for the lost, he said, because God's already done everything He can do to save them. So, you know, I mean that's just -- that appalled me. And that was one of the first things that got me started thinking about the sovereignty of God; that scripture teaches us to pray for the lost. Paul prays for the lost. And that, in and of itself, is proof that God is sovereign over who is saved. And that's also an encouragement to evangelism.
PASTOR HARDY: In what way?
PASTOR JOHNSON: Because we know that God has His elect out there. You know, He has many people in this city. And all we have to do is throw the seed, and it will bear fruit.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Well, that's what they criticized Spurgeon, you know, for believing in election. And they said, you know, if you believe in election, why are you preaching to all these people? And he said well, if you'll pull up their shirts and see if they have an "E" stamped on their back, you know, maybe I won't. But, I mean, you don't know who the elect are. So the command to us is not to determine who's elect. The command to us is to preach the gospel to every creature. That's a -- that's obedience. And, you know, the thing that's so wonderful about believing in the sovereignty of God -- and I say this as a preacher -- I don't really care about manipulating anybody. I just care about being faithful to the truth of God, so that God through His truth can save whom He will. If I believe that people are saved by their own sovereign will, that totally creates a different paradigm for ministry. So for me, the great joy of all joys is that God would use me to call out the bride for his Son. That's a great, great privilege.
PASTOR HARDY: That makes evangelism exciting; to know that the final verdict is not on my shoulders.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Right.
PASTOR HARDY: That is God's job, to save. It is my job to be faithful. And if I'm faithful to spread the seed, in God's appointed times, He will actually use that along the way to call the elect to salvation.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Well, just imagine, Carey, that you really were an Arminian, and you believed that as a preacher you were responsible for the eternal souls of people. I'd get out of the ministry.
PASTOR HARDY: Be a lot of sleepless nights.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Oh, I'd be a mental case. Because I mean there's no way you could ever live with that kind of reality, if you were honest about it; if you took people's eternal destiny seriously. I mean I take things seriously as it is; I mean, you know I do. But if I actually believed that people would go to hell if, one, I didn't preach the kind of sermon that could manipulate them to make a decision or, two, if I didn't reach them, I'd be a frenetic person, running around button-holing everybody that crossed my path, living some kind of a bizarre and outrageous life, trying to make sure that people didn't go to hell because of me.
PASTOR HARDY: I heard so many sermons growing up from preachers who were manipulating the members of the church to evangelize with this kind of thinking; these people's blood are going to be on your hands, they could die on the way tonight going somewhere in a car wreck, and that's going to be on your shoulders, their eternal destiny. And so the guilt trip, as we call it, was placed upon people who try to motivate them to do the Lord's work. And it has actually the opposite effect.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Oh, sure.
PASTOR HARDY: Can people who hold to another view of election -- let's go back to maybe one of those errant views, some sort of definition of foreknowledge that God looks ahead, He chooses some, et cetera, runs the tape back and then makes His choice. Can a person who holds another view of election actually be saved?
PASTOR JOHNSON: I don't think there are many people who spring full-blown into understanding these doctrines the moment they're saved. A lot of people entertain these wrong ideas for some time. I think it's a mistake to think that these particular doctrines, these difficult doctrines about divine sovereignty, are so much the essence of the gospel that if someone rejects them he's not saved. The heart of the gospel is justification by faith. And what I want to know is what a person believes is the grounds for his justification: Is it Christ's righteousness, or his own? And I think if you say it's Christ's righteousness and not mine, and that you just work out the ramifications of that theology, you're going to understand the sovereignty of God and all these other doctrines as well. But the starting point for the gospel and the starting point, I think, for an understanding of the sovereignty of God is a solid understanding of justification by faith. That's the heart of the gospel. That's what I want to know, to really understand, whether I think this person I'm talking to is a believer or not. I know people who -- who would just flatly tell you no, if a person is an Arminian, he can't be a true Christian. They regard all Arminians as hell-bound heretics. I think that's a kind of hyper-Calvinistic tendency that some people fall into, a hyper-judgmentalism. On the other hand, I do think there are some varieties of Arminianism that do corrupt the heart of the gospel, because they put the burden of salvation completely on the back of the sinner and, therefore, teach people that it's not Christ who saves you; it's your own choice, it's your own work.
PASTOR HARDY: Is it at that point that this becomes heresy?
PASTOR JOHNSON: I believe it is.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: That would be Catholicism.
PASTOR JOHNSON: It would In fact, some kinds of Arminianism are very similar to Roman Catholicism. You know, read the life of Wesley. He was a classic, flaming Arminian. I deplore his theology. And yet, we read about his conversion. It was the doctrine of justification. When he came to understand that -- somebody was reading through the introduction to Luther's Commentary on Romans, which is a great treatise on justification by faith -- it opened his eyes to those truths and he saw it. And for the rest of his life when he preached the gospel, he preached justification by faith as -- as well and as soundly as any Calvinist I've ever heard. I would expect to see him in heaven, with his theology all straightened out.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: The truth of the matter is preaching the sovereignty of God won't save anybody. Preaching the doctrine of election won't save anybody. Preaching sin and justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, saves.
PASTOR JOHNSON: Good point.
PASTOR HARDY: You've already hinted at some practical implications of affirming this doctrine. But, at the same time, if the view we hold on it doesn't determine our salvation -- let's press this a little more here in the time we have left -- then does this doctrine really matter?
PASTOR JOHNSON: I'd say absolutely.
PASTOR HARDY: What are the implications for daily life, let's say?
PASTOR JOHNSON: Well, just the way you look at your -- all of your duties. As I said, at the heart of this doctrine of the sovereignty of God is a constant reminder to us that we have to depend on divine grace for every duty that scripture sets before us. And if you take your eyes off that fact -- if you lose sight of the sovereignty of God, you will take your eyes off that fact -- you'll forget to depend on grace, you'll begin to try to live in the flesh, and you will go astray. It is, I believe, detrimental to sanctification; detrimental to your Christian walk. And the proof of that is seen in the fruits of Arminian theology. Wesley again, I would say, he went off into this kind of perfectionism that so corrupted his view of sanctification. And if you read some of the discourses he wrote, he was an angry and arrogant man. He wasn't the model of Christian grace. And I believe part of his attitude problem was -- stemmed from his theology.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: And from the fact that he was always irritated at his brother.
PASTOR JOHNSON: That, too. I think he had a wife that drove him --
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Yeah, he did. His wife, she was a challenge.
PASTOR HARDY: Some raise that with the whole concept of trust; that affirming this doctrine and growing in your understanding of it actually builds and increases your trust in God instead of trusting --
PASTOR MACARTHUR: I think there's even something greater. The greatest thing that a believer can do above and beyond everything is worship. That is the highest responsibility. The sovereignty of God is the single most glorious reality about God. Even His grace would lose its luster if He weren't really in control of it. His mercy would be diminished. It is His sovereignty that overarches everything. And, you know, when I worship the Lord just as a way of life, it doesn't matter what happens. It doesn't matter if I'm well or sick; it doesn't matter if I live or die; it doesn't matter if things go well or don't go well. It just never interrupts my confidence in the sovereignty of God. So, you know, I think that's the key to my -- to just living life on the same high level of joy, come whatever comes, because you know that this is all fitting into His perfect plan. I remember -- this is a good illustration. I remember a few years ago we had some people come here from another church. And, of course, that's not uncommon. But they came from a church where their families were in leadership in the church, pastoral leadership. And so coming here was a big thing. And they came from a charismatic church. And they came here, if I understand the story right, they came here one time when I preached on the sovereignty of God. And they never went back. And what they said to me was we've lived our whole life under the sovereignty of Satan. This is absolutely transforming. Satan makes you sick; Satan messes with your babies; check the kids at night, 3 o'clock in the morning Satan might kill your baby with SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome; pray Satan out of your bedroom, bathroom, dining room, Satan's liable to do -- I mean, you know, Satan made the planes crash into the Towers, Satan does -- everything's -- and poor God, you know, is -- (Pastor indicates by wringing His hands.) And this caused paroxysms of fear, heart palpitation, panic attacks; really unbelievable kind of things.
I mean who could possibly worship God in that kind of environment? Then you get the people together, and you whip them into some kind of emotional frenzy; call it worship. But down underneath it is a theology that literally makes it impossible to worship God, because God's not in charge. The opposite of that, of course, is to understand that everything works within the framework of God's purpose and will. And no matter what happens, you know, even the worst of things, are intended for your good and His ultimate glory.
PASTOR HARDY: One last question in that regard, and each of you can answer this if you desire. Do you struggle with assurance of your salvation? And, if not, why? Even as it relates to your understanding of the sovereignty of God.
PASTOR JOHNSON: Do you want to us each to answer that?
PASTOR HARDY: Sure.
PASTOR JOHNSON: I don't. I did for quite some time when I was first a believer, struggled with assurance, and I think that was by God's design and His purpose; to sort of drive me to see that the source of my assurance, the source of my security, the source of my salvation, the source of everything that I need to put my trust in, is not inside me. It's in Christ. And when I understood that, got out of a hyper-analytical mode, you know, then I began to put my trust in Him. And so I would say to a large degree, my confidence in the sovereignty of God is one of the reasons why I have assurance, because I've learned to look to Him not only as the author, but also the finisher of my faith. He gave me faith. He promises to keep me in the faith. And -- and so I'm confident in that.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: I think I could say when I was a very, very young Christian, I don't know that I really doubted it. I just sort of checked in to -- just in case, you know. And I'd say Lord, I think I'm saved. But if I'm not, would you please save me, because I really don't like this lingering doubt in my mind. You know, I think I probably did that as a teenager; just sort of making sure. And at that time I don't think I was really taught a good, sound theology. I was still under this -- the reign of decisionism that was going on all around me. And I wanted to make sure that my decision was the real deal.
PASTOR HARDY: That you prayed the prayer correctly.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Yeah. Or we'd go to camp, you know, and kids would cry and throw pine cones in the fire and, you know. And if you didn't go up there and do that, you might not have the real deal; you know, it might not be the real thing. I mean I wasn't trying to get in -- I wasn't even dealing with what was going on in my heart. I was trying to deal with what I did, or what I prayed or, you know, did I get through; rather than recognizing the work of God in my heart, which was driving me to, you know, even as a junior high kid, to read things that would expand my spiritual understanding, and that appetite was already growing. But I wasn't looking at that. I was in such an environment of the external that I was constantly checking to make sure the deal I did was okay. But, you know, you definitely grow out of that. And what grows you out of that is sound doctrine. And you understand the work of your heart, because you have a love for the Lord and a desire do what pleases Him and obey Him, and to run from sin. And you know that's God's work.
PASTOR HARDY: You know that did not come from yourself.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Yes.
PASTOR HARDY: Dr. Mayhue, you shared just a little bit of your testimony. You came to Christ in a dramatic way as an adult. Did you ever --
DR. MAYHUE: I was a young adult. My wife and I were ready to get a divorce. And I walked into that church, and my life was as dark as dark could get. And when I walked out, it was as light as light could get. And I've never questioned my salvation for a second. Because I instantly had a hunger for the word of God, I would have been like a guy who hadn't had a drink of water in his whole life. And would never have found it, no matter how close I got to it, because I was blind. And then God showed me the water, and gave me the sight to go to it. So in my case, and I think it's because as an adult and there was such darkness, and then there was such light, and I had such a hunger for the word. And God gave me a new love for my wife, and her a new love for me that --
PASTOR MACARTHUR: How long were you a Christian when you went to seminary? Did you go right to seminary?
DR. MAYHUE: I got saved in April, and went to seminary a year later, August, so about 15 months.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: So you were a year-old Christian in seminary.
DR. MAYHUE: Yes.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: That must've been fun.
DR. MAYHUE: Yes. I studied the dictionary more than I did the Bible to figure out what they were talking about. I learned the Joseph story in Hebrew class, 'cause I didn't have any kind of a background. So I'm not sure my experience would be a fair standard for everybody. But I've never, ever questioned my salvation based on what the Bible teaches.
PASTOR HARDY: Last question is this: What resources might be helpful in strengthening someone's understanding of these tremendous doctrines; any particular books that come to mind, references that you might suggest to us tonight? The word of God, obviously.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: You know, there's a good little book; I think it's been a classic through the years, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J. I. Packer. It's just -- what is it -- 75 pages, 80 pages, and it's a little paperback, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God; very helpful, very concise, to the point; just something you can get your arms around relatively clearly. There are, of course, you know, endless other options. But that's a really good place to start.
PASTOR JOHNSON: I like R. C. Sproul's book Chosen by God. We already recommended John's book On the Love of God, which I think is very helpful with a lot of these questions and the difficult side of some of these questions.
PASTOR HARDY: Great. I want to thank each of you for participating in the discussion tonight. It's been thrilling to me to hear your answers. Thank you for being here and listening. And by your being here, stating that you will continue to be here every Wednesday night at this time to be part of our study. I do want to thank you for coming.
I want to ask our Pastor John to dismiss us in prayer with, of course, an invitation to you. If you have further questions, I'll be hanging around here at the front. If you have some things you'd like for us to pray about, don't hesitate to write us a little note on that. And seriously, I do invite you to come back and be with us on Wednesday nights. John.
PASTOR MACARTHUR: Father, thank you for Your word. We return there every day to find the truth about everything. And we know that divine truth matters more than anything else. And we thank you so much that you have allowed us to see things exactly the way they are, and you have given us reality on all matters that are important to us. We thank you for the wonderful time we've had tonight, considering the truth that's revealed in Your scripture. We pray that You'll bless each who are here. May this be a time of encouragement and blessing and enrichment for us all. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.
PASTOR HARDY: You're dismissed.

Didn't God choose us because He knew we'd choose Him?

2007-04-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

By Bob Deffinbaugh , Th.M. from bible.org

Much of the debate among Christians is not over the fact that we were chosen, but when and why we were chosen. The Scriptures teach that God chose us in eternity past, apart from any merit of our own, and that in time He calls, justifies and glorifies all whom He has chosen. Some Christians readily acknowledge that we were chosen, but that this choice was not specific, and that such a choice was based upon God’s foreknowledge that we would, in time, choose to trust in the Lord Jesus. They would turn our attention to this text in Romans:

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren (Romans 8:29).

They maintain from this text that in eternity past God chose the elect on the basis of His foreknowledge of those who would, in time, believe in Christ. This is a position that cannot be supported from Scripture. Let me suggest some of the major flaws in this position.

(1) The term “foreknow” does not mean just to “know in advance,” but can also mean “to choose beforehand.” Only the context of the passage can determine which sense the term is meant to convey. Consider, however, that in the Scriptures the expression “to know” is used with the meaning, “to choose.”

And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? “For I have chosen [literally “known”] him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice; in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him” (Genesis 18:17-19).

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:4-5, emphasis mine).

In Romans 8:29 Paul tells us that those whom God “foreknew” He also predestined to become conformed to the image of Christ. In what sense did Paul want us to understand the term “foreknew”? The same expression is used again in Romans 11:

I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people, whom He foreknew … (Romans 11:1-2a, emphasis mine).

The question that has been raised concerning the certainty and security of Israel’s future blessings. In part, Paul’s response to the question is that God would not and will not forsake His people, whom He foreknew. If God only knew about the nation Israel, there would be nothing here which would make this people distinct from all other nations (God knows about them, too). Paul’s answer is that Israel’s future blessings are secure because God chose her, not because Israel chose God.

Peter uses the term “foreknow” in precisely the same way, in speaking of the Father’s choice of the Son to die for the sins of lost men:

And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God (1 Peter 1:17-21, emphasis mine).

(2) The Scriptures teach that men can do nothing to merit God’s favor, and thus God’s choice was made in eternity past, apart from any consideration of our works.

And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER” (Romans 9:10-12).

(3) If God were to have looked down the corridors of time, to see all those who were to choose Him, He would see no one.

9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; 10 as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD (Romans 3:9-11).

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest (Ephesians 2:1-3).

3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

18 For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.” 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:18-24).

Doctrine of Election Scripture References

2007-04-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

The Doctrine of Election is throughout the Bible. Though it is true that there is a healthy tension between the role we play in choosing Christ and the role God plays in choosing us, it is clear that God chooses us first or we would never choose Him.

I've included serveral verses here that will help you to see the amount of Biblical support for the doctrine of Election. In short, this doctrine teaches us that God is the intiator of our faith and unless he first chose us, we would never have chosen Him. Who is the ultimate initiator of salvation, God or man?

He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:11-13).

“But I said to you, that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:36-40)

“No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44).

And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father.” As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore. Jesus said therefore to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. “And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God” (John 6:65-69).

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you” (John 15:16).

And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. “For thus the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles, That You should bring salvation to the end of the earth.’” And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed (Acts 13:46-48).

And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul (Acts 16:14).

“This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations. For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?” (Isaiah 14:26-27).

Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it” (Isaiah 46:3-11).

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth, And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. “And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power” (Acts 2:22-24).

This is the plan which God determined before the foundation of the world.
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).

Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you (1 Peter 1:18-20).

And it was given to him [the beast] to make war with the saints and to overcome them; and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain (Revelation 13:7-8).

Two of Paul’s epistles give considerable attention to the eternal plan of God as it pertains to the salvation of sinners. Each epistle approaches the subject of God’s plan of salvation from a very different perspective. Romans 9-11 explains God’s plan historically, from a temporal perspective. The failure of the Jews to believe in Jesus as their Messiah opened the door to Gentile evangelism. When sufficient Gentiles have been converted, the times of the Gentiles will terminate, and at this time God will turn once again to the nation Israel, to turn all Israel to faith and obedience, and thus to enter into His blessings. In Romans it would appear that at any point in time God blesses either the Jews, or the Gentiles, but not both simultaneously.

Ephesians approaches the plan of God for saving sinful men from a very different perspective. If, in Romans, Paul defends the salvation of the Gentiles prophetically and historically, in Ephesians Paul defines the plan of salvation as a mystery, something unknown and unknowable in times past, but now revealed to men through the apostles and prophets, and in particular through Paul. In Ephesians Paul claims to unveil truth concerning God’s plan of salvation which no man had ever grasped before. In Ephesians we venture into uncharted waters, which take us beyond any previous explanation of the plan of God for saving sinners.

While certain points of theology may be discussed and disputed, it is virtually impossible to ignore clear and consistent testimony of Scripture. God is the author and the finisher of our faith:

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).

40 Days of Purpose: Seven Deadlies Introduction

2007-02-19T16:34:00.000-08:00

Introduction

The 40 Days of Focus: Discovering and Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins is a church-wide campaign composed of four elements:

1. Small Group Discussion: Groups of 3 to 15 meet regularly for seven weeks to read, share and study a set curriculum. Small groups are the place where individuals can connect with others and gain strength, encouragement and wisdom from those in their small group.

If you wold like to veiw the Small Group Study Guide, choose the link on the right side of this page.

2. Reading: Along with this small group study guide you should participate in a daily devotional reading. Plan to spend 10 minutes each day, six days each week. Chapters include a daily verse, a teaching, questions to ponder and an application.

If you would like to view our Daily Reader Booklet, choose the link on the right side of this page.

3. Sunday Preaching: Weekly Sunday sermons are designed to encourage and enlighten you to God’s truth and your responsibility to respond. Sermons are designed to be biblical and practical. If you are not already attending services ask the leader of your small group about our weekend Services.

If you would like to listen to weekly sermons click on the following link where you will find our Restlife home page and a link to podcasts: www.restlife.net

4. Fasting: This campaign overlaps the 40 days of Lent. In keeping with tradition we recommend that you give-up one food or pastime during this period that will remind you of your commitment to Grow and your desire to Overcome. Some common things you might fast from include: Bread, coffee, caffeine, meat, sugar, or TV.

Thank you for your interest in growing spiritually. May God bless you as you continue to seek Him.

40 Days of Focus: Seven Deadlies Small Group Study Guide

2007-02-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

Week One: Pride

CONNECT: 15 Minutes

1. Take time for each person to share their name and what made them decide to join this small group.
2. Share with the rest of the group what you expect to get out of this seven week study.
3. If you could be a space shuttle astronaut, a renown chef, the world’s greatest tennis player, or a famous painter which would you choose and why?

GROW: 40 Minutes

Passage for Study: Luke 18:9-14
Pride is a common pitfall for the entire human race and it is responsible for much of the human suffering throughout history. It is most likely to reveal itself, not in our weakest points, but in our strongest.

Consider some of the consequences of Pride:
· Clinging to unyielding positions
· Excessive competition
· Bragging about accomplishments
· Needing to win or to be right or first (sometimes at the cost of isolating those we love)
· Hypocrisy that inhibits communication with others
· Rigid self-reliance that builds walls against dependence on God and on others
· Having an argumentative spirit rather than pursuing unity and cooperation

Take some time as a group to read Luke 18:9-14 aloud then answer the following discussion
questions:

Questions:

1. Who was Jesus’ target audience when He told this parable?

2. What does it means to "trust" or to be "confident" in your own righteousness?Read verse 11. Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology states that what constitutes a "proud" person in the “negative sense points to a sinful individual who shifts ultimate confidence from God to self.” This naturally leads to self-confidence that generally results in a spirit that is not willing to submit to God and an insensitive disregard for others. How did the Pharisee demonstrate Pride?

3. Examine verse 12. What did the Pharisee think made him "right" with God? Compare Romans 1:17 and 3:20.

4. In verses 13 and 14, Jesus praised the tax collector for humbling himself. How did Jesus characterize the tax collector’s relationship with God?

5. Reflect on your own life for a moment. What are some instances in your personal and work relationships where these characteristics are evident?

6. How would you characterize how you relate with God? With others?

7. In our society, people are generally rewarded for individual performance and accomplishments which encourages them to build their identity on self-reliance and independence from others. How have you seen this at work in your life?

8. Read Titus 3:1-7; James 4:4-10. How can humility and service counteract the consequences of pride at work in our lives?

9. What value do we see in authentic relationships and Christian fellowship in light of this?

10. As a group, come up with a short statement (30 words or less) that sums up what you have discovered about how to overcome pride.

Summary Statement:

PRAYER: 10 Minutes

Take a few minutes to share prayer requests. Choose one person in the group to write them down. Spend enough time in prayer that each request can be prayed for.

PLAN: 10 Minutes

1. Attend. It is important that you attend weekly discussions if at all possible.
2. Invite. Write down the name of one person you will invite to join you for next week’s small group and tell the others when you plan to invite them.
3. Organize. Made sure to elect one person from your group to fill each of the following:
CONNECTOR: Two days before you meet call each person to remind them of the week’s meeting.
SERVER: Brings baked goods to each meeting.
PLANNER: Schedules and implements a small group potluck during one of your weekly meetings.

Week Two: Greed

CONNECT: 15 Minutes

1. Have each person in the group share their greatest accomplishment.
2. Have you done your reading? Fasting? Inviting? Ask each person in the group to rate their diligence this week .
3. What’s one thing you feel God has been telling you about your relationship with Him this past week?

GROW: 40 Minutes

Passage for Study: Luke 12:13-21

Animal trappers who work for African zoos say that one of the most difficult animals to catch is the ring-tailed monkey. However, the Zulu tribe has been doing it for centuries. Their method is fairly simple and is derived from their knowledge of the animal. Their trap is nothing more than a melon growing on a vine. The seeds of this melon are a favorite of the monkey and armed with this knowledge, the Zulus simply cut a hole in the melon, just large enough for the monkey to squeeze his hand in to reach the seeds. The monkey will stick his hand in, grab as many seeds as he can, then start to withdraw it only to find that he cannot remove his hand. His fist is now larger than the hole. The monkey will pull and tug, screech and fight the melon for hours. But he can’t get free of the trap unless he gives up the seeds, which he refuses to do. Meanwhile, the tribesman will come up and catch him.

Take some time as a group to read Luke 12:13-21 aloud then answer the following discussion
questions:

Questions:

1. Read verse 15. We find here an example of a man focused on the maters of the world and his possessions. If this is an example of someone who has an out of focus perspective on his life, what is a proper perspective that we should have?

2. In verse 18, the rich fool says that he is going to tear down the barns he has and build even greater ones. In our culture, what are some of the “greater barns” that people are tempted to pursue? In your life, what are the “greater barns”?

3. Read verse 19 and contrast it with Ecclesiastes 2:24. The two passages say very similar things, but the outcome is very different. What was different about the rich fool’s attitude from Solomon’s attitude in Ecclesiastes?

4. Use verse 20 as an opportunity for personal spiritual reflection. Look at your life right now. In what area of your life can you see this as God’s response to you?

5. Read verse 21. This section in Luke 12 is a somewhat parallel passage to Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount” found in Matthew 5-7. Jesus mentions this word treasure here in verse 21 and later in verse 34. What does it mean when Jesus says, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”?

6. Greed is an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth. What are the different kinds of greed that come up in your life?

7. A supervisor or manager at work may see material gain as a healthy motivator for employees of the company. Is this wrong? Why or why not? When does it cross the line?

8. Read Matthew 6:19-21. When it comes to greed, these Scriptures clearly show us how to attack this sin in our lives. What would it look like in your life to put greed to death and put true treasure in heaven?

9. Read 1Timothy 6:6-10; Hebrews 13:5-6. What attitudes in your life do you need to submit to Christ so that you can be content with where God has placed you?

10. As a group, come up with a short statement (30 words or less) that sums up what you have discovered about how to overcome greed.

Summary Statement:

PRAYER: 10 Minutes

Take a few minutes to share prayer requests. Spend enough time in prayer that each request can be prayed for. Focus on praying for each other to overcome the sinful habits that are becoming more clear to you.

PLAN: 10 Minutes

1. Continue to plan your potluck.
2. Spend some time encouraging members of your group who have struggled to keep up with the reading, fasting, inviting or attending services. If necessary, help them to formulate a personal plan to do better this coming week.

Week Three: Envy

CONNECT: 15 Minutes

1. If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would you choose and why?
2. Have you done your reading? Fasting? Inviting? Ask each person in the group to rate their diligence this week .
3. What’s one thing you feel God has been telling you about your relationship with Him this past week?

GROW: 40 Minutes

Passage for Study: Numbers 12:1-16

We have all had those experiences (probably more often than we’d like to admit) where we catch ourselves desiring something someone else has, whether it be a car, a house, a job, an accomplishment, or any number of other things. One person said that, “envy is the weak link in a chain of successes that might have been. It is a self-defeatist attitude that distracts us from the works that might have been, and focuses us on the limitations of the works that others have already accomplished.” At its core, envy undermines God’s providential grace in how he created us, and undermines our relationships with Him and other because we allow those things that we become envious of to restrict us from entering into authentic relationships.

Take some time as a group to read Numbers 12:1-16 aloud then answer the following discussion
questions:

Questions:

1. Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology defines envy as the “Sin of jealousy over the blessings and achievements of others, especially the spiritual enjoyment and advance of the kingdom of Christ freely and graciously bestowed upon the people of God.” In what way is our passage an example of envy?

2. Read verse 2. What was the basis of the Aaron and Miriam’s complaint against Moses?

3. See verses 3. What does this verse tell us about the character of Moses? How does this verse contrast with the attitudes of Moses’ brother and sister?

4. In verses 4-9 we see the Lord’s response to Aaron and Miriam’s attitude of envy. How should their attitude have differed from what we saw in verses 1-2?

5. Verses 10-16 tell us that there were consequences for this act of envy. We see that God healed her leprosy, but what did it mean for Miriam to be shut out of the camp for seven days? How would the other Israelites have interpreted this punishment?

6. One striking part of this entire story is the response of Moses. There is no indication that he knew that his brother and sister were saying these things to each other, and then he receives a heavenly conference call for the three of them with God. Can you imagine the shock and surprise that Moses must have felt at that moment? However, verse 13 indicates that Moses interceded on behalf of his sister, in the midst of her sin and his surprise. In what way do we see Moses validate the statement in verse 3 about his character?

7. Read Ecclesiastes 4:4. Now read Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 and contrast these verses. As you look across our culture and our life specifically, would you agree with this assessment? Why or why not?

8. Read Proverbs 14:30; James 3:13-18. According to these verses, what does envy produce? If we resist envy in our lives, what do these passages say will be produced?

9. How is envy an evidence of not trusting God?

10. As a group, come up with a short statement (30 words or less) that sums up what you have discovered about how to overcome envy.

Summary Statement:

PRAYER: 10 Minutes

Take a few minutes to share prayer requests. Spend enough time in prayer that each request can be prayed for. Focus on praying for each other to overcome the sinful habits that are becoming more clear to you.

PLAN: 10 Minutes

1. Continue to plan your potluck.
2. Begin to brainstorm ways you could serve someone or a group of people in your community in humility and love as a small group.

Week Four: Wrath

CONNECT: 15 Minutes

1. What makes you angry?
2. When you get angry are you most likely to clam-up, blow-up, throw-up or get even?
3. Have you done your reading? Fasting? Inviting? Ask each person in the group to rate their diligence this week .
4. What’s one thing you feel God has been telling you about your relationship with Him this past week?

GROW: 40 Minutes

Passage for Study: 1 Samuel 18:5-30

You have likely heard the story about the passenger who boarded the Los Angeles-to-New York flight and told the flight attendant to wake him and make sure he got off in Dallas. When the passenger awoke hours later the plane was landing in New York. Furious, he called the flight attendant and demanded an explanation. The flight attendant mumbled an apology and, in a rage, the passenger stomped off the plane.

“Boy, was he ever mad!” another crew member observed to her errant colleague.

“If you think he was mad,” replied the flight attendant, “you should have seen the guy I put off the plane in Dallas!”

Anger is a constant source of destruction. Benjamin Franklin said, “anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one” and also said “whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.” While these statements ring true the majority of the time, we must make the distinction between the sin of anger and the emotion of anger (Ephesians 4:26). Resentment, backbiting, foul language, discrimination, seeking revenge, outbursts of rage and violence against others are all sins of anger. Feeling anger is not wrong, but one’s actions after experiencing the emotions can be very difficult to control in an edifying and God honoring fashion since anger affects our moral judgments (Psalm 37:8, Proverbs 29:22). Only God can balance his anger with love perfectly.

Saul was Israel’s first king and David experienced a special relationship with Saul since David played the harp to calm Saul’s spirit. David later killed the Philistine giant Goliath and in time developed a very deep friendship with Saul's son Jonathan.

Take some time as a group to read 1 Samuel 18:5-30 aloud then answer the following discussion
questions:

Questions:

1. Read verses 6-9. What lead to Saul's anger against David?

2. Read verses 9-27. As a group, make a list of the actions that Saul took against David. Why do you think Saul acted this way? What do you think Saul could have done instead of taking these actions?

3. Now read 28-30. From verses 13-30, compare and contrast David and Saul’s differing responses to each other. Why do you think David responded this way? How did God show favor to David? How can you apply David's character in our culture and in your interpersonal relationships?

4. Read Galatians 5:16-25. What kinds of acts are contrasted? Are any sins of anger listed? If so, what are they and in what category are they placed? How do you think this passage relates with the passages for study?

5. God's Word gives us clear guidelines about how to deal with anger and how we can choose not to act sinfully when we do become angered (Proverbs 29:11, Ephesians 4:26, 31, Colossians 3:8, James 1:19, 20). Think of an instance in your life when you were angry at someone. What actions did you take? What was the result? Do you think you could have acted differently? How?

6. Scripture is very specific in dealing with anger, especially anger directed toward other Christians: self-control (Proverbs 16:32, Ecclesiastes 7:8-9, James 1:19), how we communicate it (Matthew 18:15-20), dependence (Romans 12:19-21). Look up these passages and think of two or three situations or relationships in your life where you can apply these principles. Share with the group how at least one of these will look.

7. As a group, come up with a short statement (30 words or less) that sums up what you have discovered about how to overcome wrath.

Summary Statement:

PRAYER: 10 Minutes

Take a few minutes to share prayer requests. Spend enough time in prayer that each request can be prayed for. Focus on praying for each other to overcome the sinful habits that are becoming more clear to you.

PLAN: 10 Minutes

1. Begin to brainstorm ways you could serve someone or a group of people in your community in humility and love as a small group.

Week Five: Lust

CONNECT: 15 Minutes

1. Do you think men or women are more likely to struggle with lust?
2. Do you think lust is a bigger problem in our culture than it was 100 years ago or just less covert?
3. Have you done your reading? Fasting? Inviting? Ask each person in the group to rate their diligence this week .
4. What’s one thing you feel God has been telling you about your relationship with Him this past week?

GROW: 40 Minutes

Passage for Study: 2 Samuel 11-12 (read passages noted in questions)

There’s a story about a man who was shopping with his wife at a mall kiosk, and as they were looking at the items, a shapely young woman in a short, form-fitting dress strolled by. His eyes followed her. Without looking up from the item she was examining, his wife asked, “Was it worth the trouble you’re in?”

Lust is often considered merely a strong sexual attraction to another person, which begs the question, “what’s the big deal?” However, lust, as biblically defined, is “a strong craving or desire, often of a sexual nature… relating primarily either to a strong desire for sexual immorality or idolatrous worship.” We may chuckle at this story, but when we are honest with ourselves, this sin can quickly master even the strongest faith.

Within our human sexuality, lust is a perversion of God's will concerning sex and our sexual desires. The motive of lust can be boiled down to self-gratification at the expense of others, at the expense of a relationship with God, and even to the detriment of self. Most everyone is susceptible to the temptations of lust. Through our culture and the media, sexuality has gone mainstream and is a profitable business in our society.

Take some time as a group to read 2 Samuel 11:12 aloud then answer the following discussion
questions:

Questions:

Read verses 11:1-5. Where do we find King David in this story? With responsibilities such as leading his troops in battle, it begs the question: Why was David even in this situation. What are the steps in David’s downward spiral that we witness in 11:1-5?

After this event unfolds, David compounds his sin by attempting to get Bathsheba’s husband to come home for a “biblical diversion” with his wife, but when Uriah didn’t follow along, David had him setup to be murdered. David’s downward spiral continues through the end of this chapter when we read in 11:27 that Bathsheba gave birth to a son.

1. Read 12:1-6. Here, God uses Nathan the prophet to confront David in his sin. What was David’s analysis of the story Nathan told? Was David’s reaction appropriate? Why or why not?

2. Now read 12:7-12. With your group, make a list of the consequences that Nathan lists for David’s sin.

3. Finish by reading 12:13-15. What was David’s response to this direct confrontation of his sin? How do you think you would have responded?

4. Can you think of instances in your life where lust became a temptation? How did you handle the temptation? How will you deal with future temptations you may face?

5. The Greek word "porneia," translated "sexual immorality," is broad and includes sexual practices outside of God’s revealed will. Biblically, what practices are sexually immoral? Why do you think God says they are contrary to his will? For reference, see Matthew 5:27-32; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 5:1, 6:15, 7:1-2; Romans 1:27.

6. In 12:7-12, Nathan has some very harsh words for David, who ironically had the power to have Nathan put to death or tortured, as many later kinds in Israel and Judah would do. Nathan shows great courage in the midst of this crisis. What can we learn about confronting sin in our interpersonal relationships?

7. As a group, come up with a short statement (30 words or less) that sums up what you have discovered about how to overcome lust.

Summary Statement:

PRAYER: 10 Minutes

Take a few minutes to share prayer requests. Spend enough time in prayer that each request can be prayed for. Focus on praying for each other to overcome the sinful habits that are becoming more clear to you.

PLAN: 10 Minutes

1. Have someone from your small group write an article for the Reporter on what God is doing through your small group.

Week Six: Gluttony

CONNECT: 15 Minutes

1. What is your favorite food? Where do you get it?
2. Have you done your reading? Fasting? Inviting? Ask each person in the group to rate their diligence this week .
3. What’s one thing you feel God has been telling you about your relationship with Him this past week?

GROW: 40 Minutes

Passage for Study: Numbers 11:1-35

People suffering with Compulsive Overeating have what is characterized as an "addiction" to food, using food and eating as a way to hide from their emotions, to fill a void they feel inside, and to cope with daily stresses and problems in their lives. Consider the following real-life confession from Tom…
“I suppose it is ironic that I work at a hospital. I was married to an alcoholic... how nice it would be to have a simple addiction like booze... you give it up and you are recovering. But you have to eat. Well I eat... when I'm hungry... when I'm full... when I'm anxious... when I'm happy... when I'm sad... well you get the idea. Food, the friend that never fails.”
“When I was a kid I was trained that food made it all better. When we were totally broke my mom would cook the most. She was a compulsive feeder so I became a compulsive eater. Every diet has failed. I am a lifer on Weight Watchers, I have been through Nutra System. But it's not about the weight... it's about the inability to deal with feelings and emotions... about using a bowl of pasta or a pound of m&m's as a narcotic to stem the pain.”
“That's what compulsive overeating is. I cry because it makes me overweight and no one sees the real me inside. I try to show the real me and I think that people don't like me because I am overweight. It’s a catch 22. I see my son gaining weight and I grieve. I want out... but then I realize that there is no out... only control... and control is harder than being in our out.”
Whether it’s compulsive or casual, overeating is symptomatic of a much deeper issue. Gluttony kills, steals and destroys. Most of us react to our overeating by trying to “cut back a little.” But is this really the answer?

There is a story told about some teenagers who were driving through a small town one night. It was late and as they approached a stop sign the driver slowed down, looked both ways and then rolled right on through. When a parked policeman saw the entire thing he turned on his lights and pulled the teenagers over. The cocky teen asked the policeman why he had pulled him over. The policeman said, you failed to stop at that intersection. But I slowed down and looked both ways, the boy insisted. Yeah, but slowing down is not the same thing as stopping, said the cop. The boy thought for a moment and said, I think what I did was just as safe as if I’d stopped. Fed up with the attitude the kid was giving him, the cop pulled the boy from the car and began to whack him in the behind with his baton. As he did he asked the kid, would you like me to stop or just slow down?

God is not asking you to cut back on your sin, He’s asking you to stop. We often play at this when it comes to food. Overeating is a sin. Are you committed to stopping or are you more likely to just cut back?

Take some time as a group to read Numbers 11:1-35 aloud then answer the following discussion
questions:

Questions:

1. What had God done to bless the Israelites before they began to grumble? How did God respond to their grumbling in vv. 1-3?

2. What did the Israelites want to eat? Were they concerned with starving? What was the problem?

3. How did God respond to the Israelites cries for meat to eat?

4. When God provided meat for the Israelites how did he do it?

5. What was the response of the people? Were they thankful? Did it cause them to trust God more?

6. How did God feel about the response of His people to His blessing? What did it cause Him to do?

7. How well has God provided for your dietary needs? In light of how God responded to the Israelites how do you think He feels about the way you use the food He’s given you? Do you think He expects you to eat only what you need or what you desire?

8. Why do you think God cares so much about the amount of food people gather and consume?

9. As a group, come up with a short statement (30 words or less) that sums up what you have discovered about how to overcome gluttony.

Summary Statement:

PRAYER: 10 Minutes

Take a few minutes to share prayer requests. Spend enough time in prayer that each request can be prayed for. Focus on praying for each other to overcome the sinful habits that are becoming more clear to you.

PLAN: 10 Minutes

1. Have someone from your small group write an article for the Reporter on what God is doing through your small group.

Week Seven: Sloth

CONNECT: 15 Minutes

1. How do you relax?
2. What would you do if the check-out person forgot to charge you for a $5.00 item and you didn’t catch it until you got home?
3. Have you done your reading? Fasting? Inviting? Ask each person in the group to rate their diligence this week .
4. What’s one thing you feel God has been telling you about your relationship with Him this past week?

GROW: 40 Minutes

Passage for Study: Matthew 25:14-29

Most people think of sloth as laziness, not doing much of anything, but just sitting around doing nothing. Slothful people may stay busy most of the time but don't do the things they should, putting them off for later. Sloth is often disguised as calmness, serenity, keeping a level head, open mindedness. But the Bible describes the slothful person as an evildoer.

In the popular musical, “My Fair Lady,” Eliza’s father is a character of great slothfulness. In a song titled, “With a Little Bit o’ Luck,” he sums up the thinking of the man of sloth when he sings:

The Lord above gave man an arm of iron So he could do his job and never shirk. The Lord gave man an arm of iron-but With a little bit of luck, With a little bit of luck, Someone else'll do the blinkin' work! With a little bit...with a little bit... With a little bit of luck you'll never work!
Take some time as a group to read Matthew 25:14-29 aloud then answer the following discussion
questions:

Questions:

1. According to this passage, how does God view the time and talents that He’s given you? Are they yours to do with as you like?

2. How did the faithful servants gain more talents?

3. In what ways has God given more talents to some than others?

4. According to this passage is God more concerned with how much you accomplish or what you do with the opportunities you’ve been given?

5. What principle does God teach us in v. 26? How can we apply this to our lives today?

6. How does God reward those who work diligently?

7. How does God reward those who are lazy or slothful?

8. In what ways is slothfulness made more acceptable in our culture?

9. As a group, come up with a short statement (30 words or less) that sums up what you have discovered about how to overcome slothfulness.

Summary Statement:

PRAYER: 10 Minutes

Take a few minutes to share prayer requests. Spend enough time in prayer that each request can be prayed for. Focus on praying for each other to overcome the sinful habits that are becoming more clear to you.

PLAN: 10 Minutes

1. Have someone from your small group write an article for the Reporter on what God is doing through your small group.
2. Decide as a group if you are going to continue to meet after the 40 Days Campaign is over.
3. Let the Small Groups team leader know what your group decides.

40 Days of Focus: Seven Deadlies Daily Reader

2007-02-19T09:33:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Forty Days of Focus Daily Reader. This booklet is designed to give you daily insight into discovering and overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins. In the Bible we find particular significance in a 40 day time period on several occasions. Elijah spent 40 days in the wilderness. God flooded the earth in 40 days. Moses led God’s people for 40 years in the wilderness. Jonah gave the city of Nineveh 40 days' grace to repent. Jesus retreated into the wilderness and fasted during 40 days of temptation to prepare for his ministry.

Modern studies have helped us to understand that it takes about 40 days to remove an old habit and replace it with a new one. Although any 40 day period of time can be an effective strategy for focusing on life-change, this booklet was designed to correspond to the 40 day Lenten period that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at the Easter Sunday Celebration.

During your 40 day journey you should practice fasting to sharpen your focus. Your 40 day fast might exclude caffeine, sugar, bread, meat, TV, soda or some other luxury.

The following components are an important part of this journey:

Small Group Discussion ............... 7 weekly guided discussions
Reading ………………………….……….. 42 daily topical devotions
Sermons ………………….… 7 Sunday Morning Topical Sermons
Fasting …………….………………………… 40 days of partial fasting

Table of Contents

Pride six daily devotions
Greed six daily devotions
Envy six daily devotions
Wrath six daily devotions
Lust six daily devotions
Gluttony six daily devotions
Sloth six daily devotions

Pride

Day One

To Fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.
Proverbs 8:13

PRIDE: The unwillingness to look at one's faults honestly, or of esteeming ourselves greatly based on an excessive esteem of our abilities or worth. This is vanity.
There is a story told of the one-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world, Muhammad Ali, flying to one of his engagements. During the flight the aircraft ran into foul weather, and mild to moderate turbulence began to toss it about. The passengers were accordingly instructed to fasten their seatbelts immediately. Everyone complied but Ali. Noticing this, the flight attendant approached him and requested that he observe the captain’s order, only to hear Ali audaciously respond, “Superman don’t need no seatbelt.” The flight attendant did not miss a beat and replied, “Superman don’t need no airplane either.”[1]
How honest are you about your own worth? What is your worth based on? Are you more gifted than others? Does that mean you are also worth more? Many of us assume that our worth is based on our abilities and when we compare ourselves to others we come away with an over inflated view of self based on our good attributes. By default we seem to find the best in ourselves while easily criticizing others.
Ali thought himself greater than the others on his plane. Clearly he was using the wrong standard to measure his worth. In 1984 millions watched as Ali ran the Olympic torch to the top of the coliseum steps to begin the Los Angeles Olympics. It was painful to watch. This once proud man struggled to do something most of the viewers could easily do. His body was devastated by the effects of Parkinson’s so that he was barely able to speak, shook from head to toe and was only a frail reminder of the great athlete who once entertained the boxing world.
By using the same standard that made Ali feel like a god (his physical stature), Ali became an almost worthless human being. Yet carrying the torch was a great honor. How could this be? Why was he chosen? It was a humbling moment for all who watched and a reminder that our present success is but fleeting. Unlike God who is the same today, yesterday and forever, we are all destined to decay.
What control did you have over your development in your mother’s womb? Why weren’t you born crippled? Why are you able to read? Did you choose to be born into a world of opportunity and freedom? How would you have developed if you were born into a third-world family and sold as a child sex slave?
Each of us is a trophy of God’s grace. Tomorrow is not a guarantee no matter how much money you have. Today could be the last for each of us. In a moment the lives of countless Americans were transformed by the Hurricane we call Katrina. What about you? Are you proud? Do you see yourself as God sees you or have you chosen to elevate your worth?
Each of us must discover the places where we are tempted to think more highly of ourselves than we should.
1. Do you feel that others overlook your talents and underestimate your worth?
2. How has God assigned worth to you?
Application: Take a moment and ask God to reveal to you areas of your life where you demonstrate pride by assigning worth to yourself. Thank God for giving you His worth by assigning His name and reputation to you.

Pride
Day Two
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. - Proverbs 11:2
Do you want to be God? According to the opening chapters of Genesis, when God placed the man and the woman in Eden to be his vice regents on earth, he gave them the maximum freedom, authority and dominion possible for created beings. They were to rule the earth for Him. And there were no apparent restrictions on how they were to do it, except in the matter of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of which they were not to eat - as a symbol of their dependence upon God.
The fruit was a tangible symbol of the fact that the man and woman, even with great freedom and dominion on the earth, were nevertheless God’s creatures. They enjoyed their freedom and exercised their dominion as a result of God’s free gift. The fruit was a restraint upon them, to remind them that they were not God but were responsible to him. What kind of fruit it was makes no difference.
When Adam and Eve fall into sin through the temptation of Satan, the first revelation of sin’s nature is revealed and thus tells us what is basically wrong with mankind. In essence what Adam and Eve did when they ate of the fruit was to proclaim that were able to provide for their own needs apart from God’s provision. This is pride. It is a declaration of selfishness above all else. They had no need for more food, sex, freedom, comfort, or any thing else, yet they chose to disobey God. This is at the heart of the sin nature.
It would be comforting to think of Adam and Eve as poor creatures who were fooled through the cunning of Satan, caught up in a disastrous day of tragic proportions. However, 1 Timothy 2:14 clearly states: “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” Yet Adam ate the fruit too. If Adam was not deceived, as 1 Timothy clearly states, then he must have sinned in full knowledge of what he was doing.
Adam’s act of rebellion was a clear statement that in effect was communicating his inward motive, “I don’t care if I am allowed to eat of all the trees north of here east of here, south of here and west of here. So long as that one tree stands in the garden as a symbol of my creaturehood, so long as it is there to remind me that I am not God, that I am not perfectly autonomous – so long as it is there I hate it! So I will eat of it and die, whatever that means.” And so Adam ate of the tree in deliberate disobedience to God. And death, first the death of his spirit but then also the death of his soul and body, passed upon the human race.
1. If you could take Adam’s place, do you think that you would choose not to eat of the Forbidden Tree?
2. Have you ever chosen to taste of something that you knew was against God’s will?
3. What evidence can you see in your life that you struggle to hand control of your life over to God?
Application: Make a list of five things you have done that demonstrate your desire to provide for yourself instead of trusting God for His provision.
Example: “I dated a person who I knew was bad for my relationship with God because I liked the way they made me feel.”

Pride

Day Three

“Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.” – Proverbs 16:19

Lets see how God felt about the pride of one of the greatest emperors in world history – King Nebuchadnezzar. In the Book of Daniel we read:
“All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, ‘Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?’
“While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.” (Daniel 7:28-32)
Here is King Nebuchadnezzar congratulating himself on how great he is, what he has done. He is basking in his achievements. He is talking about his mighty power and the honor of his majesty. No mention of or credit given to Almighty God.
The story of Nebuchadnezzar is just one example of a recurring biblical theme concerning the way God runs the Universe. The principle is this, in due time, God humbles proud men, and exalts those who are humble. One place where it is repeated is in the first letter of Peter to the churches:
“Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” (1 Peter 5:5-7)
God is telling us that our job is to humble ourselves, and His job is to exalt us. If we try to reverse the roles, and do His job, exalting ourselves, then He will do our job for us, and humble us. It is one of the most powerful laws of the Universe.
If we humble ourselves, it will change our destiny. A person or nation against whom God has pronounced judgment can find mercy if they humble themselves.
1. How have you humbled yourself this past year?
2. How has God humbled you this past year?
3. Has God exalted you? How?
4. How have you exalted yourself?
Application: What opportunity has God given you this week to humble yourself? Are you going to do it? What will it cost you?
Pride
Day Four
“The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” – John 3:29-30
Leonard Bernstein, the late conductor of the New York Philharmonic orchestra, was once asked to name the most difficult instrument to play. Without hesitation, he replied, “The second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm—that’s a problem. And if we have no second fiddle, we have no harmony.”[2]
In John chapter three John the Baptist uses an illustration to teach us a very important lesson. It was a lesson John was intimately acquainted with; a lesson on humility. From the day John was born, he lived in the shadow of Jesus. His mother knew that his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, was divine, being born of a virgin. As John grew he found his calling in preparing the way for Jesus. This meant that he left his place in society, all his earthly possessions and made a life living in the wilderness outside of town.
He made clothing out of animal skins and ate what he could catch. As he began to preach, teach and baptize John gained a great following. I’m sure that John of all people was very aware that it was nothing great on his part that brought large crowds, yet the crowds came just the same. With the crowds came disciples and with disciples came an opportunity for this hairy, dirty, rough man of God to become more than God had made him to be.
When Jesus arrived on the scene to proclaim His earthly ministry of healing the disciples of John came to see what his reaction would be. Would John be threatened by Jesus? If Jesus stole all the fruit of John’s labors would John rebel? So they said, "Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan--the one you testified about--well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
John answered them with a story about weddings. Can you imagine how crazy it would be if the best man at a wedding kept pushing the groom aside and stealing the show? That would be low down. The best man’s job at a wedding is to be in the shadows, do the hard work, make sure the bride and groom are the center of attention and that at the end of the day everyone remembers how great the groom is, not the bet man. John understood the importance of becoming less so that Christ could become more.
1. Do you struggle with giving up your advantages so that Christ can get the credit for your success?
2. When was the last time you went to a wedding? Did the best man and the maid of Honor steal the show? Do you remember the bride and groom or are your thoughts mostly on the bridal party?
3. Are the people who know you best more impressed with you or with your God?
Application: In the space below write down one thing you could do to become less so that God might become more in your life:

Pride
Day Five
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” – Matthew 5:5

Godly Virtue: Humility
The Godly virtue which pride wars against is Christian humility and a contrite spirit, where man has a spiritual aversion to being subject to God or His laws. It is a hindrance to the Christian's recognition of the Sovereignty and Grace of God. To combat this sin, we should strive to see ourselves as the sinners that we really are, and not to compare ourselves to others, that we might appear to ourselves better or more righteous.

“Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all.”
Corrie Ten Boom, in her book, Each New Day, gives us a great picture of humility. “When I saw Sadhu Sundar Singh in Europe, he had completed a tour around the world. People asked him, Doesn’t it do harm, your getting so much honor?” The Sadhu’s answer was: “No. The donkey went into Jerusalem, and they put garments on the ground before him. He was not proud. He knew it was not done to honor him, but for Jesus, who was sitting on his back. When people honor me, I know it is not me, but the Lord, who does the job.”
What a great picture of our proper place. The greatest moments we can hope for as Christian people is to be that donkey in the middle of the parade, carrying the King of Kings into our communities, shouldering the weight of the gospel. But at the end of the day, we are just the donkey, never the King.
1. When do you feel most humble?
2. How does the discipline of looking at your sinful habits make you more humble?
3. Are you more likely to focus on your sins too much and therefore believe the lie that God dose not love you or to focus on your sins too little and believe that God is lucky to have you on His side?
Application: Make a point of humbling yourself today when you interact with others.

Pride
Day Six
It is pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. - C. S. Lewis

Self Check: Pride
Rank yourself on a scale of 1-5, 1 being “true of me” and 5 being “not true”:

_____ I am often aware that I am a miserable sinner.

_____ When I am made aware of an area of my life that is not bringing glory to God, I do everything I can to obey immediately.

_____ Other people feel like I am open to criticism when I am wrong.

_____ I rarely compare myself to other people in any way.

_____ I have given several other Christians both the right and the opportunity to
speak truth into my life if they feel I am not obeying God.
_____ TOTAL SCORE

Top Ten:
In the space below make a list of ten things you can do to become more humble and less proud.

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Greed

Day One

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” – Luke 12:15

GREED: This sin is the inordinate love of possessions and the desire for either material wealth or to gain more than one needs.
Men who trap animals in Africa for zoos in America say that one of the hardest animals to catch is the ring-tailed monkey. For the Zulus of that continent, however, it’s simple. They’ve been catching this agile little animal with ease for years. The method the Zulus use is based on knowledge of the animal. Their trap is nothing more than a melon growing on a vine. The seeds of this melon are a favorite of the monkey. Knowing this, the Zulus simply cut a hole in the melon, just large enough for the monkey to insert his hand to reach the seeds inside. The monkey will stick his hand in, grab as many seeds as he can, then start to withdraw it. This he cannot do. His fist is now larger than the hole. The monkey will pull and tug, screech and fight the melon for hours. But he can’t get free of the trap unless he gives up the seeds, which he refuses to do. Meanwhile, the Zulus sneak up and nab him.

What Would You Do?
What are you willing to do for $10,000,000? Two-thirds of Americans polled would agree to at least one, some to several of the following:[3]
Would abandon their entire family (25%)
Would abandon their church (25%)
Would become prostitutes for a week or more (23%)
Would give up their American citizenship (16%)
Would leave their spouses (16%)
Would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free (10%)
Would kill a stranger (7%)
Would put their children up for adoption (3%)
There is nothing wrong with having nice things. That’s not greed. How nice the things that you have or want are is not part of the definition of greed. Greed is measured by taking the things you have and want and comparing them to what you should have or want. If God is your provider, He alone should determine what is enough for you. The key is finding His provision and living happily within it.
1. How many people around the world would be happy to trade their possessions for yours?
2. Do you consider yourself blessed to abundance in possessions?
Application: Take a moment to thank God for the things you have that you enjoy.

Greed
Day Two
“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” – Matthew 16:26
How Much Land Does a Man Need?
Leo Tolstoy once wrote a story about a successful peasant farmer who was not satisfied with his lot. He wanted more of everything. One day he received a novel offer. For 1000 rubles, he could buy all the land he could walk around in a day. The only catch in the deal was that he had to be back at his starting point by sundown.
Early the next morning he started out walking at a fast pace. By midday he was very tired, but he kept going, covering more and more ground. Well into the afternoon he realized that his greed had taken him far from the starting point. He quickened his pace and as the sun began to sink low in the sky, he began to run, knowing that if he did not make it back by sundown the opportunity to become an even bigger landholder would be lost.
As the sun began to sink below the horizon he came within sight of the finish line. Gasping for breath, his heart pounding, he called upon every bit of strength left in his body and staggered across the line just before the sun disappeared. He immediately collapsed, blood streaming from his mouth. In a few minutes he was dead.
Afterwards, his servants dug a grave. It was not much over six feet long and three feet wide. Apparently we don’t need such a very big piece of land.[4]
We live in an affluent society. Even people on welfare are able to buy home entertainment centers, wear watches, eat fast food and drive new cars. A popular bumper sticker says, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” It is usually on a nice car. What kind of toys do you have?

There is nothing wrong with nice things. In fact, when we read of the Garden of Eden we picture a place full of nice things that God created for mankind to enjoy. Heaven is pictured as a place with streets of gold and with mansions and jewels. God is not against nice things. But how much do you need?

There is a huge gap between a want and a need. We all need air, food, warm clothes, and a place to live. We need companionship and a sense of worth. But none of these are likely to top the list of Christmas requests this year. Instead, cars and appliances, housewares, clothes, electronics, and a number of other gadgets will be on our wish lists.

Most of us already have more possessions than 90% of the world outside America. Yet many millions of people are living fairly satisfying lives without the trappings of the many toys we enjoy. Each generation of Americans has taken materialism to a new level. Yet the more we have, the more we crave.

Not only do we have a lot of stuff, but we have a very difficult time giving it up. Self-storage is a big business in our country. People who have too much stuff are willing to pay to store it instead of getting rid of it. Most people have things stored in their garages and attics and closets that have not been touched in months or even years.

1. Why do we keep all these possessions? Do we really believe that these things will make us happy?

2. What things do you have that you shouldn’t?

Application: Make a plan to get rid of at least one thing today you don’t need. How does it make you feel to think about doing this?

Greed

Day Three

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”
1 Timothy 6:17-18

When is enough, enough?

I once saw a sign in a burger joint that said, “I used to dream of making what I’m now starving on.” The first time I saw that sign I was a teenager. Its truth is now more apparent to me as an adult. If you dream of making more money and buying more stuff, you will find that even if your dream comes true, your desire for more will still exist.

John D. Rockefeller was an extremely wealthy man in his day. He was once asked why he continued to work when he obviously had more than enough money for a lifetime of ease. “How much more money will be enough?,” asked the reporter. “Just a little bit more,” was the answer.

King Solomon writes in the book of Ecclesiastes that he tried everything under the sun that money could buy and was not satisfied.

We should rejoice in our abundance. God blessed the Israelites with many material blessings. There is nothing wrong with nice things. But if those nice things begin to fill the void reserved for God, or if they begin to form the foundation for your security, you are in gross sin.
Matthew 6:19-34: 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. 25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
1. On a scale of 1-10, ten being absolutely sure, how sure are you that God is ready, willing and able to provide all of your needs?
2. What do you find it most difficult to trust God for?
Application: Take a moment to ask God to be your sole provider and repent for the times you know you have tried to provide for yourself.

Greed
Day Four
Did you hear about the clever salesman who closed hundreds of sales with this line: “Let me show you something several of your neighbors said you couldn’t afford.” - Anon
Why do you want more? The motives for greed are not the same for all people who are greedy. Some desire more because it represents security and they are living in fear. Having more means they will be able to care for themselves even if things go wrong.
Luke 12:15-21
15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 16 And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 18 "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.'" 20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' 21 "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
Others gather an abundance of things to try to demonstrate that they are significant. By having nice things they assume that their worth will go up. Their pride leads to greed, and they gather an impressive storehouse of expensive things.
Still others consume because of the pleasure of the easy life. They lust for pleasure and long for the life of pampered care.
1. What makes you want more? Security? Pride? Lust?
2. What is the spiritual effect of your possessions on your relationship with God? Do they increase or decrease your love and dependence on Him?
Application: Circle each of the places where you store your possessions…
Garage Closet Car Attic Storage Unit Shed Friend’s

Greed
Day Five
I have tried to keep things in my hands and lost them all, but what I have given into God’s hands I still possess. - Martin Luther
Godly Virtue: Generosity

The Godly virtue that the sin of greed wars against is Christian charity, and greed usually results in one ignoring the spiritual in favor of the temporal. To combat this sin, we should seek to understand that generosity means sacrifice, including our letting others receive credit or praise. The true charity that combats greed is to give, wanting nothing in return.

Charles Spurgeon
Charles Spurgeon and his wife, according to a story in the Chaplain magazine, would sell, but refused to give away, the eggs their chickens laid. Even close relatives were told, “You may have them if you pay for them.” As a result, some people labeled the Spurgeons greedy and grasping.
They accepted the criticisms without defending themselves, and only after Mrs. Spurgeon died was the full story revealed. All the profits from the sale of eggs went to support two elderly widows. Because the Spurgeons where unwilling to let their left hand know what the right hand was doing (Matt. 6:3), they endured the attacks in silence.
We’d all like a reputation for generosity, and we’d all like to buy it cheap.
Are you a generous person? Unless you have learned to give away more than you can afford, you are not generous. You may be more generous than the person next to you, but you are not generous by God’s standard.
1. What have you done this past week that demonstrated generosity?
2. What personal pleasures have you given up so that someone else could enjoy material gain?
3. Do you prefer to give anonymously or in the open?
Application: Give an anonymous gift to someone else today.

Greed
Day Six
Self Check: Greed
Rank yourself on a scale of 1-5, 1 being “true of me” and 5 being “not true”:

_____ When asked what I want for my birthday, I often find it difficult to answer because I already have everything I want.

_____ I have almost no clutter in my house because I don’t hold onto things I don’t use anymore.

_____ I could have bought a nicer car than the one I have, but I chose a more affordable alternative.

_____ If the person who died with the most toys did win, I would be a real loser.

_____ I am happy to be giving away at least 10% of my income to the Lord’s work.

_____ TOTAL SCORE

Top Ten:
In the space below write down ten things you could do to be more generous.

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10.

Envy

Day One

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. – James 3:16
ENVY: This is the sin of jealousy or perverted love because it is the love and desire to own what belongs to someone else (Exodus 20:17). This transgression is the discontentment over another's superiority over us in possessions or some good fortune. Envy is the resentment of the good others will or have received.
“It is the eyes of other people that ruin us. If all but myself were blind, I should want neither a fine house nor fine furniture.”
“Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.” - Benjamin Franklin
The godly Scottish preacher Andrew Bonar penned a diary entry. He wrote, “This day 20 years ago I preached for the first time as an ordained minister. It is amazing that the Lord has spared me and used me at all. I have no reason to wonder that He used others far more than He does me. Yet envy is my hurt, and today I have been seeking grace to rejoice exceedingly over the usefulness of others, even where it cast me into the shade. Lord, take away this envy from me!”
Envy can grow to such an extreme that it can cause one person to kill another. This was the case when the Jews delivered Jesus to Pilate. We read in Matthew 27:17, "Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, ‘Who do you want me to release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?’ For he knew that for envy they had delivered him."
Of course envy does not always lead to murder, but it does always lead to destruction. Envy destroys relationships, businesses, teams and families.
In James 3:16 we read, “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” Envy leads the way to disorder and other evil things. Beware that the gateway to disorder and evil is often Envy. When you long for what someone else has you are walking into a place of destruction. Nothing good can come from it.
There will always be someone who has a nicer house, a better job, a nicer physique or better hair. You will never have the best of everything. God did not create you to have the best of everything. Unless you are content with what He did give you, you will see others and long for what they have. Envy is a killer.
1. Is there someone you’d rather be?
2. If you could switch places with anyone in the world, who would it be?
3. How much more would you appreciate what you currently have if you didn’t consider, even for another moment, what someone else has?
Application: Ask God to forgive you for wanting to have things He has not given you. Thank God for the blessings you enjoy.

Envy
Day Two
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. – Proverbs 14:30
I want that!

Have these three words ever come across your mind? All around us we are confronted with the possessions and good fortune of others, and therefore the temptation is always before us to have what others have.

In Matthew 20, Jesus explains how the Kingdom of Heaven works. Unlike in the world where people are always trying to be first, in the Kingdom of Heaven Jesus explains that the “last will be first and the first will be last.”

Matthew 20: 1-16

“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

“The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of day.’ But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’”

1. Who do you rel ate most to in this parable?

2. Have you ever been mad at God because He gave others more than He gave you?

3. What is a better way than envy to view the things others enjoy?

Application: Think of five things you have that the majority of the population of the world does not have. Imagine if they were all taken away from you tomorrow. Take a moment to thank God for these things.

Envy

Day Three

Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else. – Galatians 6:4

The sin of Comparison

Imagine that one night you went to bed in your room and awoke the next morning in a highly impoverished town in the country of India. When you awoke you had no idea initially that anything was different because you were in your house and in your clothes. In fact, everything you own was there with you. You still had your job, your bank account, your car, your house and everything you own or rent. How would your life change?

You would be the wealthiest person in the town. People would seek out your company. Every day you would drive your car to work and see hundreds of people with no shoes walking around gathering what they could to squeeze out an existence.

If this really happened, you would become the wealthiest person in your world. Would this make you happy? What if instead of ending up in a very poor country you were transported into the wealthiest zip code in America with your current house and car, etc. How would this make you feel?

Much of the way we feel is a product of our environment. We look at what others have and compare ourselves to them. We don’t really want to be rich, we want to be richer. We don’t really want to be good looking, we want to be better looking than everyone else. We don’t really want to be smart, we want to be smarter than everyone else. We are constantly comparing ourselves to others. This is the sin of comparison and the reason that we envy.

1. If you could drive any car you wanted, what would it be? If you could live in any house you wanted what would it look like?

2. Who should decide how much money you make, where you live, and what you drive?

3. Do you spend more time thinking about what others have that you want or more time thinking about what you have that you don’t deserve?

4. Are you more likely to envy others for their possessions, their looks, their abilities, or their position?

Application: Take some time today to drive through a part of town where things are noticeably more affluent or more impoverished than where you live. Ask God to give you His perspective of your relative wealth. Repent for comparing yourself to others instead of appreciating what God has graciously given you.

Envy

Day Four

And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. – Ecclesiastes 4:4
Lazy Fisherman
Philip Parham tells the story of a rich industrialist who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat. “Why aren’t you out there fishing?” he asked.
“Because I’ve caught enough fish for today,” said the fisherman.
“Why don’t you catch more fish than you need?’ the rich man asked.
“What would I do with them?”
“You could earn more money,” came the impatient reply, “and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you’d have a fleet of boats and be rich like me.”
The fisherman asked, “Then what would I do?”
“You could sit down and enjoy life,” said the industrialist.
“What do you think I’m doing now?” the fisherman replied as he looked placidly out to sea.[5]
What do you really need? If we were to ask this question more often, we’d be much more balanced and enjoy life a great deal more. But sadly we often focus on others around us. The wealthy industrialist might have been just as happy as the fisherman, but these two men were wired differently. It only does harm when we compare ourselves to others. God knows what you need and is able to provide for you. Whether you are catching just enough to live on and enjoying your freedom to sit and rest or you are building a fishing empire, you can become disappointed and envious of others.
The power of envy is stated in Proverbs 27:4, "Who is able to stand before envy?"
1. Does your neighbor have anything you wish you had?
2. Do any of your co-workers or family members have things that you’d like to have?
3. What does Solomon mean when he says in Ecclesiastes 4:4, “a chasing after the wind?”
4. Have you ever been motivated by keeping up with others?
Application: Think about your job. Do you work too much? If so, why? What could you do to take more down time?

Envy
Day Five
But godliness with contentment is great gain. – 1 Timothy 6:6
Godly Virtue: Contentment

The Godly virtue that this sin wars against is Christian contentment (Hebrews 13:5, Philippians 4:11) and true loving of our neighbor as ourselves. We combat this sin by being noble and honestly taking joy over our neighbor's good fortune, as if it were our own. That is loving our neighbor as ourselves (James 2:8) and being meek in spirit.

One way to view contentment is to put it into the equation, Contentment equals expectation over outcome:

CONTENTMENT = EXPECTATION
OUTCOME

Philippians 4:11-13
“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

In this passage, Paul reminds us that we can learn to be content even if we were once discontent. This is the secret to letting go and letting God be our provider.

Application: Consider the following verses and answer the questions that follow:

Proverbs 19:23
“The fear of the Lord leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.”

1. What does it mean to “fear the Lord?”
2. How does trouble touch those who do not fear the Lord?

Luke 3:14
“Then some soldiers asked him, ‘And what should we do?’ He replied, ‘Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely. Be content with your pay.’”

3. How content are you with your pay? How much more would make you content?

1 Timothy 6:8
“But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

4. How many days in your life have you not had food and clothing?

Hebrews 13:5
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘I will never leave you; never will I forsake you.’”

5. What is the difference between having money and loving money? Does God promise you will always have money in this verse?

Envy

Day Six

6. Self Check: Envy

Rank yourself on a scale of 1-5, 1 being “true of me” and 5 being “not true”:

_____ I rarely desire to have what others have.

_____ I am content with my job.

_____ I am happy with my love life.

_____ If I could switch places with anyone in the world, I’d pass.

_____ When my neighbors buy a new car or improve their house, I am genuinely happy for them.

_____ TOTAL SCORE

Top Ten:
In the space below write down the top ten things you wish you had and do not.

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10.

Wrath

Day One

For man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. – James 1:20

WRATH: This is the transgression of anger or strong exasperation in rage at something or someone. It is often the result of our impatience or of having our pride hurt.

Have you ever been angry? I mean really angry? The fact is that we all get angry. Someone once said, “To error is human, to forgive is divine.” When someone commits an offense against us, it is more natural to attack back than it is to forgive.

What makes you angry? Who makes you angry? James 1:20 tells us that man’s anger is not part of God’s plan for His people. If you are quick to anger, you are missing out on God’s best for you. It’s likely that everyone around you is missing out too.

For some reason driving seems to bring out the worst in people. We are close enough to interact but still anonymously hidden behind our windows and doors. It’s amazing to watch educated, responsible, affluent people flail their arms and shout at the air because someone didn’t put on their turn indicator.

Another amazing thing about anger is that we most often express it at the people we love most. Mothers yell at their kids, husbands say cutting words to their wives, and siblings throw punches or pull hair. Who can push your buttons best? It’s likely someone you love most.

Where does all this anger come from? It comes from taking too high of a view of ourselves. We expect others to get out of our way, cower to our demands, or defer to our will. Why? Because unless we are careful our pride can be hurt. We think, who are you to say or do that to me?

1. What makes you mad?

2. When you get mad, how do you get over it?

3. Do you make others mad without trying?

Application: Think about the last time you got mad. Go back through the steps from calm to anger. In what ways did you blame others for things that were not their fault?

Wrath

Day Two

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. – Mark 11:15-19

Be Angry Like Jesus

Is it always wrong to be angry? Is there such a thing as justifiable anger? If so, how can I know the difference between anger that is justified and anger that is unjustified?

Did you know that the Old Testament says 375 times that God got angry? And we know that God cannot sin. So, there is a right way and a wrong way to get angry. There is a harmful way and a helpful way. The issue is not how can I get rid of all anger, but rather how can I express it in a constructive way?

In re-emphasize Mark 11:15-19, we read: “On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.” And as he taught them, he said, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers.’”

I’m sure there was more than one person who was disturbed by Jesus’ putting them out of business that day. Jesus went table by table, person to person, overthrowing tables and destroying a lot of hard work. This was a violent confrontation. It was not a debate. It was not a disagreement. Jesus meant business. The text tells us that Jesus had observed the misuse of the temple and that He hardened hearts of the Jewish people. This was his response. It was a proper and sinless response to a very real problem. But it was an angry, violent one at that.

Can you imagine a world where no one ever got angry for any reason? The only proper response to sin is anger. God hates sin. You and I should too. In a world without anger what would we do with the child molester? The murderer? The thief? It is our justifiable anger with sin that compels us to punish the offender.

1. Can you think of a time when you were angry for the right reasons?

2. How do you feel when a crime goes unpunished? Does it make you angry?

Application: Over the next 24 hours observe those around you. When you see anger in yourself or others, try to decide if it is righteous or unrighteous anger and what the proper response should be.

Wrath

Day Three

In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. – Ephesians 4:26-27

Justifiable anger is also known as indignation. It is an anger that rises up in us as a result of seeing someone or something important to us being mistreated or suffering injustice. It is free from rage or resentment. It is a healthy anger that is aimed at the problem and not the person. It is anger for the right reason in the right way. It’s a controlled anger that is meant to be corrective and constructive.

However, justifiable anger can easily cross the line and become unjustifiable. This is a very real problem with sinful, selfish human beings.

In Ephesians 4:26, Paul tells us that we can be angry and yet not sin. Have you ever thought of anger in this way? Anger is an emotion that has its proper time and place. In the same way that an emotional attraction can be expressed in a wrong way or a right way, anger can be either a good or a bad emotion. The warning in this passage is that during a time of anger we are in danger of crossing a line.
Satan would like to see us become angry for the wrong reasons. When we do, he gains a foothold in our lives. It’s as if a rut is worn into our soul that makes it more likely for us to take the same path again another day. If these ruts get worn deeply enough, they can become too deep for us to get out. This is the idea behind a foothold. We can become stuck in a pit of anger.

When you are justified in your anger, you will find the following components:

1. You will be taking up the cause of another.
2. Your response will be focused on getting things right, not on inflicting pain and suffering or humiliation.
3. You will be looking out for the best interest of the one who has committed the offense.
4. You will be glad to see the one who offended repent and have a change of heart.
5. You will forgive the offender when he repents.

Application: The next time you see an injustice, do something about it. Take action by demonstrating righteous anger. Be careful not to sin in your anger. Remember: Your anger can’t be about you, and your motive must be to build up the person who is the offender, not tear him down.

Wrath

Day Four

Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. – Romans 12:17

Unjustifiable anger is characterized by rage, wrath and resentment.
Colossians 3:8
"But now you also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth."
Most of the anger we feel is unjustifiable. It tears down relationships and produces the fruit of fear, disappointment and isolation. Unjustifiable anger falls into one of three categories. All of them are sin.
Rage is used to describe a short-fused, intense, explosive, uncontrolled anger. It’s a “fly off the handle,” let-it-all-out temper blowout that leaves you and everybody around you torn to pieces. This is what King Saul expressed when he hurled his spear at David (Samuel 18:8-11).

Wrath is anger that wants revenge, that desires to retaliate, that wants to return the hurt or injustice the offender has caused. It’s an anger that holds a grudge. This is what the Jews felt toward Jesus when they sought to kill him (Mark 11:18).

Resentment is anger that stems from a grievance. It is an anger that the person suppresses over a long period of time, allowing it to quietly smolder within. Resentment anger doesn’t blow up, it clams up. It produces self-pity that eventually turns to bitterness. This is what the elder son felt towards his little brother in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:18-20).

Unjustified anger is sin. It tears down. It breaks apart. It steals life. It kills joy. It is familiar to us all.

1. How do you respond when you are offended? Are you more likely to express rage, wrath or resentment?

Application: Make sure to read each of the Bible passages in parentheses above.

Wrath

Day Five

Remember this my dear brothers and sisters: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to become angry. – James 1:19

Godly Virtue: Love

The Godly virtue that this sin wars against is Christian Love, which is patient in dealing with the faults of others. We combat this sin by reigning in the passion of the flesh, by not neglecting charity and love, by being patient, showing kindness and compassion to others, and by forgiving their transgressions up to seven times seventy times.

One misconception of Biblical “Love” is that it is always comfortable. In our culture we refer to uncomfortable love as “tough love.” Many times in the Bible the love that we are to share is tough love. “Speaking the truth in love” to others is one example of this. Another is church discipline.

However, most of the anger that we deal with is unjustified anger, and therefore it is a sin that must be confessed and fought against.

Romans 12:17-21

Romans 12:17-21 reads: “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written: ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not overcome evil with evil, but overcome evil with good.”

1. When was the last time you overcame evil with good?

2. How does the example of Jesus help us to understand how to love our enemy?

3. What might it cost you to be a peacemaker?

Application: At least once each day, pray that God would fill you with His Spirit. One of the fruits of the Spirit is love. If you are having difficulty loving your enemies, you will need to have God’s supernatural power to love the unlovely.

Wrath

Day Six

Self Check: Wrath

Rank yourself on a scale of 1-5, 1 being “true of me” and 5 being “not true”:

_____ When I drive I rarely wish bad things would happen to certain other drivers.

_____ There is nothing more I could do to be at peace with everyone I know.

_____ I am not bitter about past disappointments.

_____ I keep my actions as well as my words under control when I am angry.

_____ It is very difficult to get me angry.

_____ TOTAL SCORE

Top Ten:
In the space below list ten things that upset you and then put a “U” next to those that are unjustifiable. Place a “J” by those that are justifiable. For those that are justifiable, write down an action that you could take to make it right.
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Lust

Day One

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. – 1 John 2:16

LUST: This is the sin of having an inordinate and intense longing or appetite for sexual cravings. It is often manifested in a self-destructive drive for some pleasure regardless of its value, merit, or legality.

The pull of sexual desire is often much greater than our ability to overcome. What God created for our pleasure often is the source of our destruction. While the world continually finds new ways to rationalize sexual deviance from God’s Word, we find ourselves battling to hold onto the truth.

Without God it is not possible to overcome our desire to sin. Do you believe that God can help you to overcome your desires that war against your mind and destroy your purity?

It is important to remember that sex is not bad. God created sex for our delight, and it serves as a core element in the bond of marriage. Sex is part of God’s plan for reproduction, for communication, and for recreation – but all within the confines of marriage. On the surface it would seem that marriage is the answer to feeding this appetite. But dig just a little and we find that marriage is not the cure-all we wish it would be.

Study after study shows that married couples struggle with sex. Some don’t have sex at all, others very little. Others have affairs or rely on sexually explicit material to fill their desires. Many other couples are frustrated but coping. Is it possible to have good sex, be married, and enjoy marriage the way God intended? Without a doubt, it is. But the key is quality character, self-control, faith and effort.

1. Are you satisfied with your sex life?

2. How have you made sacrifices and demonstrated self-control in order to be pure sexually?

3. In what ways does our society suffer from sexual activities outside of committed Christian marriage?

Application: Talk to God. Commit to making Him the Lord of your sex life. Have you been trying to handle this area of life on your own or have you included God at the center of the process?

Lust

Day Two

But I say unto you, That whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. – Matthew 5:28

Sex Driven

What drives your life? In Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, he says, “Everyone’s life is driven by something.” Some people are driven by guilt, some by resentment and anger, some by fear, some by materialism, and still others by the need for approval.

One of the top selling books in the Christian world is Every Man’s Battle. It deals with the overwhelming appetite of men for sex outside of God’s provision. Lust expresses itself in many ways. Some men are tempted by women to whom they are exposed in everyday life. Simple things like walking down the street or going to the office can be their main areas of temptation. Others are tempted by magazines or the internet. Pornography is big business world-wide. Some are involved in weekend sexual exploits or affairs. No matter what the expression is, lust is taking the sex drive God gave you and perverting it by trying to meet your own needs outside of God’s provision.

After the book, Every Man’s Battle had been out for about a year, the authors discovered a strange thing: Women were reading the book too. As they began to investigate they realized that women too struggled with lust, only in a different way. Romance novels hold the hearts and desires of many women captive to unrealistic fantasy. Through the pages of these books, the immoral encounters of the characters become a window to the sex drive of thousands of women. Likewise, the internet has become a place of connection for women who feel alone. Through chat rooms, women can connect with men and try to meet their needs for acceptance. Today you can buy the sequel, Every Woman’s Battle.

The human sex drive has driven many people to do things that were dangerous, silly or downright evil. King David committed adultery and murder for the temporary joy of sex with Bathsheba. For the sake of sex, many lies have been told, countless dollars have been wasted, and many dreams have been shattered.

In a world without lust, where men and women exercised their sex drive only through God-honoring marriages, sexual diseases would cease to exist. Pregnancy out of wedlock would cease to exist. Pornography and prostitution would cease to exist. Women would feel cherished and men would feel honored.

1. How has culture made sexual immorality more available?

2. How has our culture redefined sexual immorality over the past few decades?

3. What is the link between sexual immorality and brokenness in families?

Application: Consider the ways you are broken sexually. What changes would you need to make to become whole again? Ask God to give you the faith and strength to make these changes. Think of one person you could share your struggles with and ask them to hold you accountable for these changes.

Lust

Day Three

I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. – Romans 7:18-19
Even in a world free of erotic images, people don't control their lust. In Pakistan men and women never hang out together. Women are covered with clothing from their head to their feet, yet there are still prostitutes for hire.
If men in a country like that can't control their lust, how can we? From the moment we get up in the morning until we climb between the sheets at night, we're bombarded with erotic images and messages.
Suppose you made up your mind you were going to make it through one day without lusting. On your way to work your eyes are drawn to the bikini-clad model greeting you from a billboard. A few moments later as you stop at an intersection, you aren't able to keep from noticing the attractively dressed young woman crossing the street.
At work a friend brags about his or her encounter the night before. On your way home you stop at the grocery store and catch yourself gazing at the seminude models that adorn the magazines and romance novels by the checkout counter. When you finally get home, you plop down in an easy chair and flip on the TV, where you are bombarded with even more erotic images and messages.
With the high level of erotic stimulation you face on a daily basis, do you believe you can bridle your lust alone? You may think, "I'll never have a problem with sexual lust."
If that's true, you're stronger than Samson, godlier that David, and wiser than Solomon.
1. If it were possible to control your sexual desires and live a pure life on your own power, wouldn’t you have done it by now?
2. Does lust come from outside influences or from an inner desire?
3. What can you do to gain more power over sin?
Application: Think about the areas you struggle with most in the area of lust. What triggers these thoughts? What actions do you follow these thoughts with? How have you tried to overcome these bad habits on your own power? Did you succeed?

Lust

Day Four

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. – Galatians 6:7-8

James 1:13-15

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

Daily choices make eternal differences. Someone once noted, “It may be true that there are two sides to every question, but it is also true that there are two sides to a sheet of flypaper, and it makes a big difference to the fly which side he chooses.” Some choices lead to life and others to death. God wants to help you make good choices.

Joshua 24:15

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Not only must you choose to serve God, you must do it daily. In response to Joshua’s challenge the people committed to following the Lord. But did they keep that promise? I’m sure they did great that day. The problem was the day after that.

Choosing to serve God is a day-to-day, moment-by-moment decision. As often as you know that you are tempted to lust, you need to make a conscious decision to turn away from the temptation. If you do, one day at a time you will create the legacy of purity that brings life to you and those you love.

1. Do you blame others for your lust or take the responsibility for it yourself?

2. Do you have a daily time set aside to commit your thoughts and desires to God?

3. Does a busy schedule keep you from making good decisions?

Application: Decide on a time each day when you will stop what you are doing and commit to choosing righteousness. Hint: try doing it before you turn on the TV or car stereo.

Lust

Day Five

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body. – 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Godly Virtue: Self-Control

The Godly virtue that this sin wars against is Christian self-control. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak; thus, to combat this sin, we should seek to remove from our realm or sight all temptations or snares that might cause us to sin because of our weakness. Furthermore, we must be filled with the fruit of the Spirit, which is self-control, on a daily basis. Being in accountability to another person is key.

Lust is a problem in our culture. Marriage is not the cure. Neither is removal of external temptations. These might be helpful, but the problem is much deeper. It comes from within. Blind married people struggle with lust, too, just like you.

If you are serious about overcoming lust, you are going to need to learn to rely on God’s Spirit to overcome the desires of your heart that cause you to want more than what is good for you. Sowing to please the Spirit means planting seeds that will grow into something much greater in time. Another way to say this is that establishing godly habits will lead to godly character – character that is in line with purity and righteousness.

Every day, you have an opportunity to get rid of old habits and establish new ones. The problem is that you might like your bad habits more than you desire to have good ones. Thus, the place to start is with your will.

God wants to change the way you think and the way you feel. But you have to let Him. He won’t force Himself on you. When was the last time you prayed for God to change the way you think and feel?

Once you hand your will over to God, He will challenge you to change your actions to align with His will. Just like weeding and caring for a garden is hard work, the work of sowing good seeds or establishing godly habits is hard work.

Application:

The following is a work list for establishing good habits:

1. Start by confessing your sins and inviting God to change you from the inside out. Give Him permission to change not only your actions, but also your desires and thinking.
2. Ask God to reveal new areas where you need to change direction and repent of both old and new areas of sexual sin.
3. Memorize one Scripture passage from the section in this devotional on Lust and repeat it whenever you are feeling tempted.
4. Get into a small group or accountability relationship where you will have support from another Christian person of the same sex.
5. Take it one day at a time. Each day is an opportunity for a fresh start. Daily, submit to God by asking for forgiveness and asking for the Spirit’s power to live right and think right. Meet regularly with your accountability partner or group and be honest.

Lust

Day Six

Self Check: Lust

Rank yourself on a scale of 1-5, 1 being “true of me” and 5 being “not true”:

_____ There is nothing about my sex life that I would be ashamed to admit.

_____ I do not view sexually inappropriate images.

_____ I do not read sexually provocative books.

_____ I have chosen to remove myself whenever I have been tempted by sexual desires outside of God’s provision.

_____ My sex drive does not cause me to make poor decisions.

_____ TOTAL SCORE

Top Ten:
In the space below fill in the top ten action steps you need to take and put in parenthesis the name of one person who will hold you accountable for doing each one.

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Gluttony

Day One
Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags. – Proverbs 23:20
GLUTTONY: This sin manifests in someone who indulges himself excessively in eating or drinking. It is a desire to satisfy the appetite or to give pleasure to the flesh through consuming things that provide temporary relief or euphoria.
Given our human tendency to rationalize, it is not surprising to see our present society deeply resistant to self-responsibility. Most people today have convinced themselves that they are not personally responsible for their actions, and this applies to gluttony. They reason, "It must be genetic" or "I have a disease." Gluttony is considered to be merely socially unpleasant rather than a sin. Few in this society know what it is or why it is wrong.
What is gluttony? Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition defines a glutton as "one given habitually to greedy and voracious eating and drinking." Voracious is "having a huge appetite: ravenous; excessively eager: insatiable." Synonyms for "gluttony" are greed, avarice, gorge, epicure, cram, stuff and guzzle. Children who eat voraciously are said to "eat us out of house and home," and an adult who overeats often "plays a good knife and fork."
We associate gluttony most often with overeating, but it can occur in many other forms such as drinking, smoking, gambling, sex, accumulating material things, or even too much studying and researching of a narrowly defined subject in theology, health, genealogy—the list is endless. The key term, however, is "too much." Signs of gluttony are too soon, too eagerly, too quickly or too much.
1. Do you pursue food, alcohol, tobacco or drugs in ways that are harmful to your health, your budget or your relationships?
2. Why does our culture seem to treat this as a “lesser” sin than the other six?
3. In what ways does our culture condone gluttony? The Church?
Application: Think about your last three meals. Are you eating beyond hunger? Are you eating for health and energy or for pleasure and comfort? If you are struggling with gluttony, ask God for forgiveness and for help understanding your addiction.

Gluttony
Day Two
Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies. – Psalm 141:3-4
Gluttony Is Destructive
The Bible ascribes a great deal of destructive power to gluttony, as in Proverbs 30:21-22: "For three things the earth is perturbed, yes, for four it cannot bear up: . . . A fool when he is filled with food. . . ." Physically, what is so harmful about it?
An old English proverb says, "Gluttony kills more than the sword." Another maintains, "There are more gluttons than alcoholics in the grave." This certainly seems true today. In the last five years, sales of oversized coffins at the nation's largest casket company are up 20 percent. Why?
It is easy to be gluttonous in an affluent society where everything is at our fingertips and where there is more than plenty of whatever the heart desires. Both men and women are getting fat in epidemic proportions. Well over half of all American adults—about 63 percent of men and 55 percent of women age 25 and older—are overweight. In a special issue devoted entirely to obesity, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported new statistics that are nothing short of astonishing for a nation seemingly so obsessed with health and fitness: The rate of obesity—18 percent—has soared from 12 percent just seven years ago, making the United States now secure in its position as the fattest nation in the developed world.
"The rate is shocking," says Jeffery Koplan, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "and it means that we have a huge public health problem." Indeed, depending on weight and age, obesity significantly increases the risk of high blood pressure and high cholesterol, diabetes, and gallbladder disease.
Gluttony is sheer defiance of reasonable and balanced behavior. Benjamin Franklin says of man's proclivity to overeat, "In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires." Each person must determine what is necessary to sustain him, measuring his indulgence in eating and drinking to ensure that it is healthy for him.
1. Are you healthy?
2. How much weight would you have to loose to become healthy?
3. What negative effects does gluttony have on your health?
Application: Decide what needs to change in your appetites for you to become healthy.

Gluttony
Day Three
When you dine with a ruler note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies for that food is deceptive. – Proverbs 23:1-3
Gluttony Is Sin
When we use food or drink in a way that injures our health or impairs our mind, we are guilty of the sin of gluttony. God is furious when we yield to intense craving—lust—because it controls our will. Self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and if it is totally lacking a person cannot produce other fruits of the Spirit.
Wisdom's Children
Matthew 11:18-19 provides a principle to determine if our actions are gluttonous. Responding to accusations of extremes in eating and drinking against John the Baptist and Himself, Jesus remarks:
“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”
What are the children of wisdom? Good works and good fruit. Whether what we do is wise or foolish is seen in the fruit we bear and in what we accomplish. An alcoholic produces sorrow for himself and his family, battered wives and children, poor health, and a shorter life. A glutton produces a bad example for his family and his brethren, poverty, poor health, and eventually death. We must control our desires because excess desire is the driving force behind gluttony. When we lose control of our desires, we sin, feeding the god that is in our belly, the god of excess, the god of too much, too fast, too eagerly.
The way the wise live destroys the credibility of false accusations. Avoiding gluttony is one way to show that we are living in wisdom. The foolish—the opposite of the wise—tend toward gluttony.
God considers gluttony a character trait of an evil person, and so He tells us in Proverbs 23:20 to avoid those who eat and drink too much: "Do not mix with winebibbers, or with gluttonous eaters of meat." In this verse, meat represents food in general since meat partaken in a meal usually indicates a substantially filling meal. Since associating with gluttons could entice us to eat too much, it is wise to avoid close associations with them, as with any willfully sinning person. Familiarity with sin rubs off on us and wears us down.
1. Are you influencing others to eat too much?
2. Who is having the greatest effect on how much food you consume?
Application: During the next 24 hours each time you eat, stop and ask yourself, “Why am I eating this? Am I hungry for it?”

Gluttony

Day Four

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. – 1 Corinthians 10:31

Land of the giants

For anyone who has ever done international traveling, it comes as no surprise that Americans are known for being fat. Across much of the globe, people are amazed when they enter our airports for the first time. We live in a land flowing with milk and honey, and apparently we are eating it up.

As a culture we have accepted gluttony to the extent that many pastors stand before their congregations week after week preaching obedience and temperance, all the while carrying in excess of 100 pounds of extra weight.

We acknowledge that obesity is unhealthy, but few are willing today to agree with the Bible that it is sinful. Our society answers the call to be thin in many ways, but none address the root problem, which is sin.

One way we deal with overeating is to create diets. Every year new diets come out that promise the solution to the problem. But after decades of dieting, the evidence is in. Diets don’t solve the problem.

Another way to deal with the problem is surgery. Instead of moderation, we have guts that are sewn up and fat that is sucked up. Faces are lifted and everything looks good on the outside. But has this done anything to deal with the root problem?

Health clubs offer exercise facilities that are top notch. You can ride, run, lift, dance, meditate and swim your way out of having to deal with your obsession with eating. Can you imagine how much money Americans could send to help the starving people of the world if we would only stop overeating and take the money we save on diets, work-out equipment, health clubs and surgeries, and send it overseas?

When all else fails we have a last resort solution for weight problems. We just decide that we were created that way and keep on eating. After all, it is genetic, right? As if this is an excuse to overeat. Certainly some people are more inclined to weight gain than others, but unless you eat more than you need, you can almost never have a weight problem. This is true of alcoholics as well. Some people are more inclined to this vice, but that does not mean they are without hope of being sober.

1. What makes people keep eating too much food even when they know that they will suffer health problems?

2. Do you think that God is more concerned with your weight or your heart motives? Are they mutually exclusive?

3. How are smoking and drinking similar to overeating?

4. How is the sin of gluttony different than the request in the Lord’s Prayer, “give us this day our daily bread?”

Application: Choose one healthy change you are going to make. Commit it to the Lord and share it with your accountability partner.

Gluttony

Day Five

Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’? – Colossians 2:20

Godly Virtue: Moderation

The Godly virtue that this sin wars against is Christian moderation and sound judgment. We can combat the sin of gluttony by temperance in accepting the natural limits of pleasures and by praying for strength to reduce our desire to eat. We should learn to quit eating before we are feeling stuffed or full.
Paul writes in Philippians 3:18-19 that gluttons tend to concentrate on physical things, neglecting their spiritual relationship with God:
“For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.”
We may think such idolatry is rare among us, but the apostle says there are "many . . . whose god is their belly," their appetites, their physical senses. They break the first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me," because their desire becomes a higher priority than their Creator and Sustainer.
Feasting is not the sin. It is good to feast in the right way. God obviously enjoys feasts: He gives His church six throughout the year. We must learn to use with balance and restraint the wonderful blessings God has given, setting good examples as Christians representing His way of life. In doing so, we will bring glory to Him!

Colossians 2:20-23

“Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any real value in restraining sensual indulgence.”

The problem is not the food. It is easier to blame the food or restaurants than it is to blame our own sinful desire. Be careful not to jump on the blame bandwagon. Restraining sensual indulgence is the work of God’s Spirit. There is no substitute.

1. How have you blamed others for your weight problem?

2. What foods have you purchased to solve your indulgence problem instead of just eating less?

Application: Instead of focusing on food that has no fat, consider changing your diet to reflect a reliance on God for healthy eating.

Gluttony

Day Six

Self Check: Gluttony

Rank yourself on a scale of 1-5, 1 being “true of me” and 5 being “not true”:

_____ I am OK with leaving food on my plate when I am finished eating.

_____ I have not had to change clothes sizes much since high school to accommodate my growing body size.

_____ I eat when I am hungry, not necessarily at certain times of the day.

_____ I have a difficult time finishing my meal at most restaurants when I go out to eat.

_____ I rarely eat any snacks between meals.

_____ TOTAL SCORE

Top Ten:
1. Lose slowly. It improves your chance of not seeing weight come roaring back.2. Low-fat is NOT the answer. Nothing is making us fatter than the "low-fat/no-fat" fad. Many studies have shown that, for practical purposes, 1 calorie of fat is no worse than 1 calorie of protein or carbohydrate. Because we have been lulled into believing low-fat is better, we eat far more food than we otherwise would.3. Reduce sugar. Americans consume 150 pounds of sugar and corn sweeteners per person per year, 33 pounds more than 20 years ago.4. Pump fiber into your diet. It fills you up and speeds food through your body, cutting calorie consumption.5. Portion control is vital. Let appetite dictate consumption, not package sizes, restaurant portions, or what others eat.6. Count calories. Do not obsess over each one, but eat only small portions of high-calorie foods.7. Cut out little things. For example, if you drink a 280-calorie bottle of juice five days a week, drink water instead, thereby eliminating 73,000 calories (18 pounds) a year.8. Exercise. There is a clear connection between regular vigorous exercise and losing and keeping off weight.9. Turn off the TV. Watching fattens you, studies show.10. There is no weight-loss magic. It takes perseverance and hard work.
It is important to note that for any regimen to work the desire to overcome this problem must first be present.

Sloth

Day One
By much slothfulness the building decays; and through idleness of the hands the house drops through. – Ecclesiastes 10:18
SLOTH: This sin is the inclination to be lazy or to abhor the work ethic. Man is to provide for himself and his household, and being idle is a contradiction to this command of God.
Sloth is insidious. It whispers that you might as well put something off until tomorrow, that nobody will know if you cut corners here and there to save yourself some trouble, that the world will be the same in a hundred years no matter what you do, so why do anything? Sloth says, ‘Don’t strain yourself,’ ‘What’s the big hurry?’ and ‘Just give me five more minutes.’
Sloth hits the snooze alarm, hits the remote control, and hits the road when the going gets tough. Sloth cheats on exams, drinks straight from the milk carton, and leaves exactly two sheets on the toilet roll so that it will have to be replaced by the next poor soul who finds out too late that the remaining paper is nothing more than a mirage.
Sloth does slightly less than the right thing. It doesn’t bother returning something to the lost-and-found, pocketing it instead, and it doesn’t tell the clerk he has undercharged. Sloth has never written a thank-you note, sent a birthday card on time, or entertained angels. All of this simply takes too much effort.
If you’ve been living around other lazy people, you may not even be aware that you are a sloth. Do the people around you take care of their homes, their appearances, their work and their ministries? Do their dishes get done each meal? Each day?
Balance is the key. Becoming a workaholic is no better than being a sloth. It is important to ask yourself the following questions:
1. Do I often do slightly less than the right thing?
2. Would others consider me clean and tidy?
3. Is my car always dirty?
Application: Over the next 24 hours look for areas of your life where you have cut corners and left things undone because of laziness.

Sloth

Day Two
Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. – Proverbs 19:15
Disposable Time

How do you spend your evenings and weekends? Most of us feel like we don’t have enough time in a day to get everything done. Yet, at the same time, most of us fit several regular television appointments into our schedule without much of a problem.

Do you have disposable time? How many hours each week? How much of that time do you spend on family? How much do you spend on your self? How much do you make available for the Church? Balance is the key in all areas of life. How you spend your time is no different.

The Five most important things for me to spend my time on are:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

During an average week:

_____ Total number of hours spent working

_____ Total number of hours spent sleeping

_____ Total number of hours spent eating

_____ Total number of hours spent on leisure (TV/Movies/Internet/Reading/Hobbies)

_____ Total number of hours spent in Christian service (Church/Ministry)

_____ Total number of hours spent with family and/or friends

1. How do your weekly habits compare to your values list?

2. How can a person determine if his life is in proper balance?

3. Why do you believe more people don’t volunteer to work in the church?

4. How do you choose what to do with your time?

5. Where did you learn how to work?

Application: Decide what you would have to change in your week to align your time with your values.

Sloth
Day Three
For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. – 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12
Colossians 3:23-24
“Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward and the Master you are serving is Christ.”

A popular misunderstanding of Scripture regards work as part of our universal punishment for Adam’s original sin. In truth, God’s plan includes work of various kinds. Not only are we expected to help others and perform mission-related work, but we also are to serve our employers.

Regardless of a human boss’s actions or temperament, God is always our ultimate job authority. He expects that our work, whether driving a truck, sweeping floors, or managing investments, will be carried out with excellence. Performing well is one way that we honor the Lord.

Laziness is an obvious dishonor to God. A lazy employee might arrive late, leave early, execute duties poorly, or play on company time. Far more subtle is the choice to focus exclusively on a paycheck instead of investing oneself in the company’s good performance and reputation. Far too many people do only what is required. Believers are called to go farther and to enthusiastically give their best efforts.

Work is not simply about receiving a wage; our performance on the job also impacts our eternal rewards. Simply stated, God shows favor to those who choose diligence over laziness. Wherever the Father places us, that is where we are to work for His eternal “payoff.” Believers who do sloppy work cannot expect the Lord to rain down blessings, though in His goodness, He will still give such people a home in heaven and some comforts on earth. But if we desire God’s favor — the best of everything He has to offer — we must offer our finest efforts in all we do.
1. What motivates you? Are you known as a hard worker?
2. What difference does it make if you are working to honor God and not man?
Application: Thinking about the job you have, is God pleased with the way you do it? Do you need to repent?

Sloth
Day Four
Laziness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle man will suffer hunger. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish, but will not even bring it back to his mouth. – Proverbs 19:15
Are you Diligent?
Consider this reflection on diligence from one mother’s perspective:
“I have often chosen Mondays also as my day of rest. I may even go further and choose a part of Tuesday. Then of course, Wednesday falls in the middle of the week, and should be a lighter day, as it seems to be helping me get through the week. Thursday is usually the day that I do actually get much needed work done. Then we all know that Friday is the end of the week, and is to be treated as a lighter day. Of course Saturday is more a day of fun, than of work.”
“Considering the above, I will now admit I am, though not quite that extreme, perpetually lazy. What I've realized is that perhaps being lazy isn't quite the right word, but lack of diligence might be correct in describing my lack of great character. You see, I have great intentions! However, those great intentions rarely produce the good fruit I am seeking in my life. I am great at starting wonderful projects, and bad at finishing them completely.”
“Six months after painting my daughter's bedroom, which I did on a lark because I didn't want to work on another project, like preparing dinner, I discovered beneath her bed the pan and all the sponges and brushes I used on the room. The completed project held less enjoyment for me, because of the shadow of laziness that seems to loom after me.”
“My own lack of diligence has followed me into every arena of my life, from my housekeeping abilities to my inability to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and even into my own relationship with the Lord. ‘If I were only diligent, I would be able to have a daily quiet time with the Lord.’ I would lament to no one in particular. ‘If I could just get my act together, then perhaps I could lose those twenty pounds I gained back after being diligent for a short time.’”
1. What excuses usually keep you from doing what you should?
2. Do you ever find yourself comparing your work ethic to your neighbor’s work ethic? Why is this dangerous?
3. What has lack of diligence cost you? What has it cost your family?
Application: Make a list of things you need to get done and have been putting off. Share the list with your accountability partner and make a plan to get them done in a reasonable time frame.

Sloth

Day Five
As the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed. – Proverbs 26:14
Godly Virtue: Christian Zeal

The Godly virtue that this sin wars against is Christian zeal for the Work ethic. We can combat this sin by repentance and by praying to God for an ardent and energetic interest or desire to respond to God's commands against our disdain for physical exertion or Kingdom building.
If someone looked at your life, what would they see? An attitude of hope, enthusiasm, and energy, or a chin perpetually on your chest in a posture of resignation and defeat? Are you the kind of person who spells "life," p-a-s-s-i-o-n, or the person who, when asked to define "apathy," says, "I don't know, and I don't care?"
Consider again Colossians 3:23-24: "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ." In these two verses, we find four handles by which passion may be seized on a daily basis: the scope, the strength, the secret, and the source of passion. This passage can become a Passion Principle for you as you go "from Accomplishment to Zeal" every day.
The Scope of Your Passion. Note that Paul says, "Whatever you do...." I don't think Paul meant whatever only in a spiritual sense, such as praying, singing, studying the Bible, and witnessing. Do you know what the word "whatever" means in the Greek? It means "whatever!" Everything we do in life should be done heartily as if we were doing it for the Lord.
Are you that excited about your life? Don't make the mistake of dividing your life as a Christian into a "sacred" part and a "secular" part. All of the Christian's life is sacred – your spiritual life, your work, your hobbies, your entertainment – and should be done heartily as unto the Lord.
The Strength of Your Passion. Do you have a sense of God's pleasure in all you do in life? Paul says that whatever we do – teaching, running, plumbing, "lawyering," preaching, parenting, "businessing," – we should do it "heartily." Do it with heart! We ought to be lion-hearted about life, attacking every day with the strength and vigor that comes only from the Lion of Judah, the Son of God Himself. That is the strength we have been given.
The Secret of Your Passion. The secret of the Christian's passion is simple: Everything we do in life we do it "as to the Lord and not to men." The passion we put into any project or activity in life is a good reflection of how we esteem the One for whom we work.
Paul said, "For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10). Knowing that we serve a Savior who gave His all for us should ignite in us a passion to give our all for Him in whatever we do.
The Source of Your Passion. The source of the Christian's passion is "the Lord Christ" whom we serve. All great developmental leaders say that it's impossible to impart passion to anyone. Instead, the challenge is to discover the passion that is already within and to build on it, fanning it into flame, making it come alive!
“Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.” Jules Renard
“He that is busy is tempted by but one devil; he that is idle, by a legion.” Thomas Fuller
Application: The next time you do something that no one else will notice, do it with excellence as unto the Lord. Begin to see everything you do as a service of excellence for an audience of One.

Sloth

Day Six

Self Check: Sloth

Rank yourself on a scale of 1-5, 1 being “true of me” and 5 being “not true”:

_____ I work at least 40 hours each week at my “job.”

_____ I keep my house, car and yard in good condition.

_____ I spend more than two hours each week doing church ministry (not including sitting in church or Sunday School).

_____ I keep my body in shape with regular exercise.

_____ I have a good reputation as a hard worker.

_____ TOTAL SCORE

Top Ten:
In the space below write down five things you should spend less time doing during your week and five things you should spend more time doing.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Single for Life?

2006-12-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen a single person and thought, "they should be married by now?" Does it bother anyone that Pastor Marc is not married yet? As soon as he stepped off the plane at least twenty women in this congregation were ready to find him a wife. You may have found yourself asking, “what’s his problem?”

We are often uncomfortable with singleness. In our culture we asume there are only two categories for people: those who are in a relationship and those who are looking for one. But is this Biblical? I’d like to show you why it is not.

Matthew 19:1-12
1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?" 4 "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' 5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." 7 "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?" 8 Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." 10 The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry." 11 Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."

Notice, Jesus never contradicted the conclusion of the disciples’, “it is better not to marry.” Instead He gave a new teaching about the gift of singleness for life.

Here Jesus teaches us that there are some among us that are not better off married. If they marry, they will actually suffer for it. What about you?

If you are married, think about how you treat those who are single. Do you pity them? Do you put pressure on them to marry?
If you are single, have you considered staying single for life? Is it your desire to marry? Have you considered the benefits of staying single?

Text: 1 Cor. 7
1 Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. 2 But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.

7 I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. 8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

32 I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs--how he can please the Lord. 33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world--how he can please his wife-- 34 and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world--how she can please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.

vv. 1-2 teach us that marriage is better than immorality, but not better than being single. It is better to marry than to burn with passion.

v. 7 teaches us that each person is wired by God to be single or married. If single life is your gift, enjoy it. If married life is your gift, enjoy it.

v. 32-35 teaches us that the gift of single life is freedom and service.

Is it better to marry or stay single? Neither.
It is best to celebrate who God made you to be. There is an upside and a downside to both.

Single people are more productive and can enjoy more individual freedom. Married people are more balanced and their cravings more satisfied.

How do I know if I’m supposed to be single right now?

Are you content? Has God brought anyone into your life?
Have you learned how to be single minded for Christ?
Have you learned to submit to Christ? If not, how will you submit to a fallen human?
Happy, healthy singles make happy healthy marrieds.

1. Don’t assume you should marry. Let God make that decision. The best way to find your wife is along life’s way.
2. Don’t think marriage will solve any of your problems. It will only magnify them. If you have no self control as a single person, you won’t as a married person either. If you are lonely as a single person, you will be lonely married too. If you don’t like yourself, you spouse will likely learn not to like you as well.
3. Happiness is not connected to what you have. It’s only possible when you have nothing. Once you have learned to die to self and live for Christ, you will find happiness. Happiness is being free to enjoy what God has given you. He created you and has a plan that is perfect for you. If it is marriage. Enjoy. If it is single life, enjoy. Married or single it makes no difference. What matters is are you in God’s will?

Whether you are married or single you should be happy with the lot God has given you and choose to celebrate it as God’s perfect gift to you.

As a congregation, we need to learn to celebrate the single people in our body. They are the ones who have been given the greater gift for the body; single mindedness for the Kingdom.

The Trouble with Money

2006-12-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

Everyone likes a good secret. In Philippians 4:12 Paul tells a little secret of his own.

Php 4:12
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

In this passage Paul tells us that he has learned the “secret” of being content in any and every situation. He has learned how to be free from the love of money. He has learned how to be free to enjoy whatever God has given him. This morning I am going to pass that secret on to you…

Some people say the question is, “Do you own your money or does your money own you?” The problem with this question is that it is impossible for you to own your money. The real question is, “Does God own your money or does your money own you?” When you love money it takes possession of your affections, your peace, your happiness and your time.

Why do so many relationships sour over money woes? Or do they? Although money is cited as the #1 reason for divorce it’s not really money woes. It’s something deeper. Money is not the root of all evil. It’s the “love of” money that is the root. Putting anything in the place of God will kill relationships. First it kills relationship with God. Then it slowly kills relationships with others.

Right relationship with God leads to right relationships with others. Broken relationship with God leads to broken relationships with others.

M.P. Until you learn to give up your money you will never be happy with it or your spouse.

Love of money destroys faith
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
What are you trusting in?

Without Faith it is impossible to please God
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. Demonstrate trust in Him.

You must choose between God and Money
Matthew 6:24
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Rich young ruler wanted BOTH.

Four signs that your money does not own you…

1. You are content with what you have.
1Ti 6:8
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
Heb 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
Lu 3:14
Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely--be content with your pay."
Ec 5:10
Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.

2. You are happy to give to the Lord’s work.
2Co 9:7
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
1Co 16:2
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

3. You have time to serve God.
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

4. You could give up everything you own to follow God’s calling.
Mark 10:21
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
Matthew 4:18-20
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.

Six Mistakes Couples make:
1. Separate Money – Same money
2. No Budget – Make budget together. Stick to it.
3. Secret Purchases – Don’t make major purchases unless you talk
4. Live above income – play the hand you are dealt
5. Buy on Credit – Debt makes you a slave
6. Double income – difficult to go back, consider the cost

Is money an obstacle to right relationship with God? It can be…

Parenting Your Kids

2006-12-08T09:52:00.000-08:00

We all know what bad parenting looks like: Kids who backtalk, can't sleep, nap, eat veggies, clean up their room, take responsibility or orders.

But many of us don’t know what good parenting looks like:
1. Take Responsibility for Their Actions
2. Be Independent of their Parents
3. Be Dependent on God

Parents often get stuck on issues like home schooling vs. public school or spanking or no spanking. But these are not the main issues. They are only side bars. There is a lot of noise out there. What do you listen to? This morning I want to keep it simple and focus on the main things.

Let’s take a look at what God’s Word says:

Texts:

Be Firm
Pr 13:24 - He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
Pr 23:14 - Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.
Pr 22:15 - Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.
Pr 23:13 - Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
Tit 1:6 - An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.
1Ti 3:4 - He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.

Be Gentle
Eph. 6:1-4 -Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Col 3:21 - Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

Teach your children
Duet. 6:6-9 -These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Ps 78:5,6 - He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.

Model righteousness
Pr 14:26 - He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge.
Pr 20:7 - The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him.
Proverbs 22:6 - Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Application Points

1. Take Responsibility for Their Actions

a. Cause and Effect: sleeping, dropping things, chores, money; we teach, "You drop it you loose it."

b. Consistent Boundaries: drawing the line between right and wrong;
not important where, but consistent

c. Character is King: choosing to do the right thing even when it’s the hard thing. Budgeting, paying taxes and tithing, work ethic, exercise and eating.

2. Be Independent of their Parents
Play Now Pay Latter: chores, rules and discipline. Kid who never leaves home. Great example in Nature: Birds flying for first time.

3. Be Dependent on God

a. Consistent Modeling: do what you do, not what you say
Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.
They must learn to come to God first. You will not always be there. Ex: Dad and church planting.

b. Consistent Prayer: you are not alone.
Seeing mom and dad pray for me.

Recap:
1. Take Responsibility for their actions
2. Be Independent of their parents
3. Be Dependent on God

In-laws or Outlaws?

2006-12-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

What stresses marriage? The Big Three are: Money, Sex and In-laws.
We’ve already talked about sex. We’re going to be talking about money soon. This morning I want to share some truth about your parents.

Three Passages
Five Laws
Five Applications

Genesis 2:24 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

Law 1: Leave “awzab” to depart from, leave behind

There are no parents at this point. This is not a reaction, but a prescription.
In what way do children “leave?” Not a fleeing from, but a moving onward. I don’t leave from, I leave to. When I go on vacation to Lake Tahoe, I’m not necessarily “leaving Sacramento.” I may be more interested in going to Lake Tahoe. I’ve seen young people so desperate to leave their parents and start their own life that they jump at the first person who comes along. Leaving is necessary for cleaving. It’s not an exciting event on its own.

Law 2: Cleave “dabak” to cling, stick, stay close, cleave, keep close, stick to, stick with, follow closely, join to

This carries the meaning, “unity, togetherness, oneness.” These two are almost impossible to separate. You can’t let anything come between you. Not kids, not parents, not siblings, not careers. Superglue yourselves together. This doesn’t mean that you don’t spend time with your parents any more. It just means that your parents can only have what’s left. Your spouse comes first. If it’s mom or your mate, mom has to wait.

Deuteronomy 5:16 "Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”

Law 3: Honor “Kawbad” The idea here is to carry weight. Don’t take them lightly.

It doesn’t mean you must do whatever they say. It doesn’t mean they are always right. It does mean that they should not be “blown off.” They hold a position of esteem.

1 Timothy 5:4 “But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.”

Law 4: Care “yoose-beho” act reverently towards ones relations, show that you care. This word is often translated, “care.”

Just as your parents were responsible for taking care of your needs as a child, you are responsible for taking care of their needs once they are no longer able to. If they need a place to live, you care for them.

Law 5: Repay “apo-deedo-me” to pay back, give back, recompense

The sense here is that because your parents have given to you, you are indebted to them. When it is your turn to take care of them it is like the responsibility they had to take care of you. Just as we look down on a parent who neglects their child, God looks the same way at a child that neglects his or her own parents in their time of need. When you marry, you take on responsibility for your spouses parents as well as your own.

Five Applications:

1. Prioritize your life.
Spouse trumps parents every time. If your mom wants you to buy the Volvo and your wife wants a jeep, get the jeep. Whenever the decision comes down to parents vs. spouse. Always honor your spouse first.

2. Set healthy boundaries.
It is a strange thing to tell the parents that raised you, “I will go this far, but no further.” One of the keys to getting along well is having good boundaries. It goes something like this, “We will come over for Thanksgiving, but if you start to talk drinking, we’re leaving.”

3. Present a United Front.
Never squabble with your spouse in front of your parents. Communicate in private and stick with what you agree on. Don’t abandon your spouse in the middle of the discussion. If you think it’s wrong, say, “We’ll need to talk about that.” Then do it in private.

4. Be a man about it.
Being the man of the house come with responsibility. Husbands you are a protection for your wife. If she is being pushed around by her parents or by your parents, it’s time for you to take a stand. Be gentle. Be respectful. But be clear. You will not allow your wife to be treated poorly. She is your crown. Pick your fights. Don’t run into battle every time there’s a disagreement. But let your wife know that if you chooses for you to step in, you are ready, willing and able.

5. Don’t be bought.
Money is power. Parents often have more money than their kids. The easiest way to manipulate is to buy stuff. There is no problem with parents helping their kids financially. But if the gift comes with any strings, don’t take it. It’s not a gift. It’s a bribe. Gifts are free. And when a gift is given, it not o.k. to designate it. It’s from one family to another, not from one parent to one child.
6. Prepare to care.
What will you do when your ailing parent needs your time or money? Do you have any to give? Plan on taking care of at least one of your parents in the home stretch. Help them with their house, their bills, their loneliness, their chores, their lack of mobility, their health or whatever else they need. Just as with kids, you can hire someone else to care for them or do it yourself. But it’s your responsibility. Don’t be caught off guard. Talk to them. Make plans as you see needs coming.