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Archives For June 2012

Feeling Unfulfilled?

admin —  June 28, 2012 — Leave a comment

You faithfully attend worship on Sunday morning. You volunteer to serve in the church and participate in mission events outside the church. You are committed to tithing 10% of what God blesses you with and oftentimes give more. You never miss your daily devotion. You serve as a Bible study leader and serve as a member of a church board. When it comes to doing the things you are supposed to be doing, you are doing it. Yet, you can’t help but feel that something is missing. You are not seeing the fruit you would expect. You are not experiencing the joy or feeling fulfilled in all you are doing.

Jesus commends the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2 for all they were doing. He basically says, “bless you for all your hard work. I know it is hard to keep at it when you are not experiencing the joy and the fulfillment you think you should be experiencing. But keep faithfully serving! Believe me. You will receive your reward.”

We know this to be true and yet part of us still thinks there must be more. We wonder why we are experiencing such emptiness when we are doing what he has told us to do.

If this is the case, you are not alone. It is easy to give up. We look for that next program, project, or preacher to help find what is missing. And when that doesn’t work, we move on to the next thing. And when that doesn’t work, we move on to the next thing after that.

Jesus has an important message he wants you to hear in Revelation 2. It is a message you need to hear! He wants to show you what is really missing. But I will warn you that it may turn your whole world upside-down. It may mean giving up everything you have been looking for and discover a whole new mission. I will warn you that it may mean giving up you search for joy and fulfillment, but it will be replaced with a greater and higher calling.

Come discover what Jesus is saying! Join us this Sunday for worship at 8:30 and 10am when we will hear Jesus’ revelation to his church.

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Revelation Part 1 (Revelation 1:1-20)

admin —  June 25, 2012 — Leave a comment

Download Revelation Part 1 Study Guide

This week we began a new message series on the Book of Revelation. Our text for the day was Revelation 1:1-20. Revelation 1 serves as an introduction to this unique book and lays the foundation for the coming weeks.

Download Audio

Download Revelation Part 1 Study Guide

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Anniversary Reflections

admin —  June 25, 2012 — Leave a comment

Yesterday, Barbara and I celebrated 12 years of marriage. It was a sweet day. It was extra special this year because it fell on a Sunday, the Lord’s Day!

The morning began with worship at Lord of Life. My parents came by in the afternoon to watch the kids while we went out for an anniversary dinner.

On the way home we witnessed a near fatal car accident. It was a stark reminder of just how precious life is. Combined with the celebration of our anniversary, I wanted to hug everyone just a little bit tighter and savor every moment. Each day we have with our loved ones is a gift from God.

An anniversary is also an opportunity to reflect upon the priority you give marriage. Do you give your marriage the priority it deserves?

Recently, I read an interview of Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church and author of the Purpose Driven Life. In this interview he shares:

Establishing spiritual habits in your marriage dramatically increases your success rate. One large nationwide study discovered that when a couple develops three spiritual habits: 1) attending church weekly together 2) praying together and 3) reading the Bible together, the divorce rate drops to only one out of 1,105 marriages.

What a contrast with the often quoted divorce rate of 50%. Yesterday, CNN had an article on how the divorce rate among boomers has doubled. We are told the divorce rate among Christians is the same as among non-Christians. The state of marriage is not good.

But, it seems God knows what he is doing. Being married in a church does not constitute a Christ-centered marriage. One can be “Christian” and yet not have given their marriage over to Christ. Yet, when we dig beneath the surface we can see that when Christ is at the heart of the marriage it makes all the difference in the world.

It’s been a great 12 years together with Barbara. I am looking forward to sharing many more years ahead. But if I have anything I would do differently, the first thing that stands out is that I would trust God more with our marriage and commit in a greater way to the disciplines of Scripture and prayer.

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What To Do Next

admin —  June 23, 2012 — Leave a comment

Oftentimes my 7 year old daughter will complain she has nothing to do. I think to myself, “It must be nice.” I have plenty to do. It’s all more than I can handle.

There have been times I have been so overwhelmed with so much to do I did not know where to start. So I did nothing. I wasted the time playing on Facebook or something else unproductive.

Maybe you find yourself there. You just do not know where to start. So what do you do when you find yourself in that situation? This is what you do:

Start with the end in mind!

When you take a vacation you start with the destination in mind. Your destination determines your direction. When you know where you are going your choices are narrowed and focused.

So the next time you find yourself stuck, don’t ask, “What should I do next?” Ask, “Where am I going?” What to do next will be much clearer.

When we are stuck it is not always about having the right answers. It is about asking the right questions.

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Understanding the Book of Revelation

admin —  June 20, 2012 — Leave a comment

It is good to be back this week from vacation to share my weekly email after a two week hiatus. We have got a big week coming up!

On Sunday, June 24, we begin a new message series on the Book of Revelation at Lord of Life. Revelation is the last book of the Bible. It is not an easy book to read or to understand, but over the course of the next few weeks, we hope to help you unlock some of its mysteries.

Revelation 1:3 says, “God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near.”

This is why we need to study this book. God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy! Did you hear that? Do you believe that to be true? Then what are you waiting for? Open the book up right now!

But there is more. It is not enough to just read these words, we are also to listen to them. There is a difference between reading something and listening to something. There are many things that I read on a given day that I do not necessarily pay attention to. They go in one ear and out the other. As you join us in reading Revelation, strive to learn its message and what it is teaching. This is not necessarily an easy thing to do, but we hope to give you the tools to do this.

So read and listen, but that is still not enough. Finally, it says to obey what it says. The commands given in Revelation do not seem to be the most pleasant. The commands are suffer and endure. I don’t know about you, but that is not something I readily want to do. Yet, with the command comes a promise. If you remain faithful even when facing death, God will give you a crown of life. (Revelation 2:10)

A key to understanding Revelation is that it speaks about the end times, but its primary focus is revealing Jesus triumphant in victory. It’s message is that life is hard and it may get harder, but take heart because Jesus has overcome and will give you his victory if you remain faithful.

I encourage you to join us this Sunday for worship at 8:30am or 10am as we begin this new message series. I will also be teaching a Bible Class at 6:45 am on Thursday mornings at Papa G’s restaurant where we will dig deeper into each of the topics we will be covering that given week.

As you prepare for worship this coming Sunday, consider reading Revelation 1. It serves as an introduction to the book and lays the foundation for what will follow. Also I have provided a study guide for you below to help you prepare and follow along.

Study Guide for June 24th Revelation 1:1-20

What does Revelation reveal? (see Rev 1:1)

Who is the author of Revelation? (see Rev 1:1)

Did John ever receive such a glorious revelation of Jesus before this? (see Matt 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, and Luke 9:28:36)

Who does God promise bless in Revelation 1:3? How are you doing or not doing this?

Who is the the “one who was, and who is, and who is to come?” (See Exodus 3:14)

Who are the “7 Spirits”? (see Isaiah 11:2)

Revelation 1:5 says, “all glory to him.” How does God receive glory from us? What else do we sinfully give glory to?

To what time and event does 1:7 refer? Why would people mourn at his coming? Why are the people of the earth not happy about his coming?

To what does the Alpha and Omega refer? (Revelation 1:8, 21:6, 22:13) What would the English equivalent be?

Who does John see in the great vision of 1:9-20? What does he tell John to do?

To what day of the week does the Lord’s Day refer in 1:10? (see 1 Cor 16:2, Acts 20:7, John 20:1, 19, 26)? What is significant about this day?

What happens to John in 1:17-18? What do these verses say about the posture we take in worship and coming before the Lord?

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The Key to Satisfaction

admin —  June 20, 2012 — Leave a comment

I have a confession to make. I am not satisfied. I want something more. I want something better. I want something different. I cast a jealous eye towards others that have what I don’t have.

I delight myself in many things. Just to name a few – I delight myself in the food I eat, the things I buy, the TV I watch, the sports I play, the books I read, the work I do, the praise I receive from others, and the relationships I invest in.

Yet all of these things leave me wanting. There must be something more. These things may satisfy me for a short time, but eventually I find they are not enough. I go out for a night on the town and have a wonderful meal at the nicest restaurant I could find. That meal brings me great satisfaction. My belly is full. But when the morning comes, I am hungry again. No matter how great a meal the restaurant might have served or how much I might have paid for that meal, it could not bring me lasting satisfaction.

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you he desires of your heart.”

Dissatisfaction is not necessarily a bad thing. Dissatisfaction points us to the Lord. Dissatisfaction will cause us to seek him. When we are disappointed at all the things we thought would satisfy us that didn’t, there will come a time when we have nowhere to turn but to Jesus. Hopefully, we do this sooner rather than later.

If you are finding yourself dissatisfied, consider the following.

1) Confess your misplaced delight. Where have you put your hopes and dreams? Are they placed in things that are temporary and fleeting? Ask for forgiveness for all the things you chased after that were not of God.

2) Practice a fast. The idea of a fast is to set aside something that you delight in such as food, that you might replace that delight with something more sustaining. Fasting from food may not necessarily be the most beneficial type of fast for you. Go back and consider where you have misplaced your delight.

3) Run after the Lord. Hebrews 12:1 says, “let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Fasting from earthly delights is not meant to burden us, but to free us, so that we might run uninhibited to Jesus and to experience his joy in a greater way. The more we delight ourselves in the things of this world, the less capacity we will have to delight ourselves in Jesus. The less we delight ourselves in Jesus, the more discontent we will find ourselves being.

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