On Tuesday's I hope to post some thoughts from the lesson that was previously taught at Merge the Sunday before...
Series: Other People
Lesson: Other People Need Forgiveness
Text: Luke 23:34; Matthew 18:21-35
Some Thoughts:
---A major factor in us being "successful" at Merge has to do with your willingness to engage "other people" in hopes that those who are far God will find life through Christ.
---Let's see what happens when we actually follow Jesus' lead rather than just say we are.
---One of the most absurd verses I find in all of scripture is Luke 23:34. The very people who thought they were murdering Jesus, He is pleading with our Heavenly Father to forgive them.
---If we are going to follow Jesus with our whole lives as we claim we do as Christians, we MUST learn to forgive other people for the wrongs they have done as we follow Jesus as the model and perfector of our faith.
---Let me tell you why I have in the past found it difficult to forgive other people. When someone has wounded me, my instinct is to get even. They took something from me and I want at least equal value in return or more. My problem with forgiveness is that it doesn't seem to balance the equation. In fact, it feels at times as if the one who did the wounding is getting off with a win.
---Sadly, most of the time we withhold forgiveness expecting equal return, there is no way they can make it right. If I break a plate I can replace it. But how do you replace a broken heart, lost time, lost opportunities?
Matthew 18:21-35
---We are all servants in the debt of the King where there is no possible way to repay the offense done to Him apart from His graceful and merciful forgiveness because of Jesus.
---Jesus says, "You want to know what is ludicrous? When you walk around not forgiving for relational wounds that don't even come close to the magnitude of the forgiveness your Heavenly Father has made available to you."
---A transformed heart must result in a changed life that offers the same mercy and forgiveness that has received from God.
4 Steps toward Forgiveness:
1. Identify with whom you are angry with.
2. Determine what they owe you.
3. Cancel the Debt.
4. Dismiss the Case.
---If you do believe that God's Word is infallible and is one of the greatest ways to find direction and wisdom, then you can't just pick and choose the parts you want to submit too. You can't take the sections that make you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside and ignore the areas that cause discomfort.
---The One who is telling us to live lives of mercy and forgiveness prayed for His enemies at a time we would have been lashing out in anything but love.
Heart and Soul,
BAG
<><
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Sunday Recap On A Tuesday
On Tuesday's I hope to post some thoughts from the lesson that was previously taught at Merge the Sunday before...
Series: Other People
Lesson: Other People Need Acceptance
Text: Luke 5:27-32
Some Thoughts:
---A major factor in us being "successful" at Merge has to do with your willingness to engage "other people" in hopes that those who are far from God will find life through Christ.
---One of the things we find in the Gospel's is people who looked nothing like Jesus... actually liked Jesus, and He liked them in return. It didn't really matter what kind of baggage they were carrying around or what their ailment was. These people flocked to Jesus and seemed to hang on His every word. And unlike most of the church, He accepted them and it changed their lives.
---Luke 5:27-28...Apparently no one taught Jesus the ever so important societal rule that like sticks with like and different stays different.
---v29...Jesus shared a meal with with a large crowd of tax collectors and others and He didn't explode, or turn to a life of crime, or led into a moral failure. Jesus engaged these people and He didn't grow horns and start selling drugs to little kids. (and all the church people say...NO WAY!!!"
---I caught myself this week having to own up to the fact that I have way too few people who look nothing like Jesus in my life. My bet is that same can be true for you. It is so easy to surround ourselves in a Christian bubble unaware of the fact that we have cut ourselves off from the people who need the love of Jesus the most.
---v.30...A major question we will need to address before we can be the people God is calling us to be: "When will I stop looking at people based on their sins and start seeing them through the scope of the cross?"
---Messy people came to Jesus messy. We should expect them to clean up their act, then go to Jesus. He is the only way they will be able to be healed from what is destroying their lives.
---v31-32...Jesus teaches us there is a way to accept people without championing or condoning their choices.
---When it is a matter of life or death all that matters is life or death.
---Some thoughts on helping Merge become a more accepting place:
1. Refuse to let guests go by unnoticed.
2. Refuse to stop praying that God would move in this city through us.
3. Refuse to accept Consumer Christianity.
---Some thoughts on becoming a more accepting person:
1. Ask God to let you see "other people" with His eyes, not yours.
2. Ask God to give you opportunities to make a difference daily.
3. Ask God for the Strength, Courage, and Desire in being willing to get uncomfortable in "other people's" lives.
4. Ask God to reveal things in you that aren't of Him.
Heart and Soul,
BAG
<><
Series: Other People
Lesson: Other People Need Acceptance
Text: Luke 5:27-32
Some Thoughts:
---A major factor in us being "successful" at Merge has to do with your willingness to engage "other people" in hopes that those who are far from God will find life through Christ.
---One of the things we find in the Gospel's is people who looked nothing like Jesus... actually liked Jesus, and He liked them in return. It didn't really matter what kind of baggage they were carrying around or what their ailment was. These people flocked to Jesus and seemed to hang on His every word. And unlike most of the church, He accepted them and it changed their lives.
---Luke 5:27-28...Apparently no one taught Jesus the ever so important societal rule that like sticks with like and different stays different.
---v29...Jesus shared a meal with with a large crowd of tax collectors and others and He didn't explode, or turn to a life of crime, or led into a moral failure. Jesus engaged these people and He didn't grow horns and start selling drugs to little kids. (and all the church people say...NO WAY!!!"
---I caught myself this week having to own up to the fact that I have way too few people who look nothing like Jesus in my life. My bet is that same can be true for you. It is so easy to surround ourselves in a Christian bubble unaware of the fact that we have cut ourselves off from the people who need the love of Jesus the most.
---v.30...A major question we will need to address before we can be the people God is calling us to be: "When will I stop looking at people based on their sins and start seeing them through the scope of the cross?"
---Messy people came to Jesus messy. We should expect them to clean up their act, then go to Jesus. He is the only way they will be able to be healed from what is destroying their lives.
---v31-32...Jesus teaches us there is a way to accept people without championing or condoning their choices.
---When it is a matter of life or death all that matters is life or death.
---Some thoughts on helping Merge become a more accepting place:
1. Refuse to let guests go by unnoticed.
2. Refuse to stop praying that God would move in this city through us.
3. Refuse to accept Consumer Christianity.
---Some thoughts on becoming a more accepting person:
1. Ask God to let you see "other people" with His eyes, not yours.
2. Ask God to give you opportunities to make a difference daily.
3. Ask God for the Strength, Courage, and Desire in being willing to get uncomfortable in "other people's" lives.
4. Ask God to reveal things in you that aren't of Him.
Heart and Soul,
BAG
<><
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Some Thoughts From Sunday's Lesson...
I hope to bring back an old series of posts I used to do but got away from it. On Tuesday's I hope to post some thoughts from the lesson that was previously taught at Merge the Sunday before...
Series: Other People
Lesson: Other People Need Compassion
Text: Mark 1:40-42; John 12:45-46; John 20:21
Some Thoughts:
---At Merge we don't believe that size of building or size of crowd is necessarily the best way to determine the health of a church.
---Our desire in accepting God's adventure in planting Merge isn't to be the biggest church in Lake Worth; it is to be the best church we can be as we believe God is going to do some incredible things through us in this city.
---A major factor in us being "successful" at Merge had to do with your willingness to engage "other people" for the Gospel of Jesus, (both inside and outside these walls).
---In the Gospel's people very unlike Jesus, really liked Him. AND HE LIKED THEM IN RETURN.
---Though our tendency is to see and evaluate people based on societal standard, here at Merge it is vital that you realize we are called to be different. We aren't called to look like society, we are called to look like Jesus!!!
---There is a great difference between compassion and sympathy.
---Compassion will lead you to action where sympathy will lead you to temporarily feeling bad for a persons situation.
---We are all living around Modern Day Lepers and we may not even be aware of it because we aren't walking with our eyes open.
---The largest hurdle we are going to have to jump when it comes to engaging "Other People" isn't resources or opportunities...it is in choosing action over comfort.
---We have to get passed our abilities to muzzle our hearts with our comfortable living.
---Our motivation for engaging "Other People" is that people far from God would find life in Christ.
---Psalm 115:11
Heart and Soul,
BAG
<><
Series: Other People
Lesson: Other People Need Compassion
Text: Mark 1:40-42; John 12:45-46; John 20:21
Some Thoughts:
---At Merge we don't believe that size of building or size of crowd is necessarily the best way to determine the health of a church.
---Our desire in accepting God's adventure in planting Merge isn't to be the biggest church in Lake Worth; it is to be the best church we can be as we believe God is going to do some incredible things through us in this city.
---A major factor in us being "successful" at Merge had to do with your willingness to engage "other people" for the Gospel of Jesus, (both inside and outside these walls).
---In the Gospel's people very unlike Jesus, really liked Him. AND HE LIKED THEM IN RETURN.
---Though our tendency is to see and evaluate people based on societal standard, here at Merge it is vital that you realize we are called to be different. We aren't called to look like society, we are called to look like Jesus!!!
---There is a great difference between compassion and sympathy.
---Compassion will lead you to action where sympathy will lead you to temporarily feeling bad for a persons situation.
---We are all living around Modern Day Lepers and we may not even be aware of it because we aren't walking with our eyes open.
---The largest hurdle we are going to have to jump when it comes to engaging "Other People" isn't resources or opportunities...it is in choosing action over comfort.
---We have to get passed our abilities to muzzle our hearts with our comfortable living.
---Our motivation for engaging "Other People" is that people far from God would find life in Christ.
---Psalm 115:11
Heart and Soul,
BAG
<><
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Words To Chew On...
"It is easy to use the phrase "God's will for my life" as an excuse for inaction or disobedience. It's much less demanding to think about God's will for your future than it is to ask Him what He wants you to do in the next ten minutes. It's safer to commit to following Him someday instead of this day."
---Francis Chan "Forgotten God"
---Francis Chan "Forgotten God"
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Words To Chew On...
"The side of fearing that God won't show up is fearing that He will. What if God does show up but then asks you to go somewhere or do something that's uncomfortable? For many people, fearing that God will ask them to go in a difficult, undesirable direction outweighs the fear that God will ignore them."
---Francis Chan "Forgotten God"
---Francis Chan "Forgotten God"
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