DIVE IN!

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. —Mark 12:30 (NKJV)

God’s love for you is deep, wide and more intense than you can imagine. But it can be a struggle to love Him back the way we should—with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Read on for some practical ways to dive deeper into your relationship with God through prayer, reading the Bible and relationships with others.

Prayer

Pray without ceasing. —1 Thessalonians 5:17, NKJV

You can’t have a deep relationship with God unless you spend time with Him, and one way to do that is through prayer. But how should you pray in order to draw closer to God? Here are some practical ideas.

• Pray often. Sometimes we fall into a habit of praying only when we want something from God. Most of us have whispered a desperate, last-minute prayer: “Help me, God!” But the Bible says we should “pray without ceasing.” That means going to God throughout the day to thank Him, praise Him and make requests for ourselves and others.

• Pray in a quiet place where you can focus on God. Jesus said, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).

• Don’t focus on fancy words and long prayers. Jesus also said, “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases,” thinking God will hear you better if you talk more, “for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:7-8).

• Use the Lord’s Prayer as a guide. The words known as the Lord’s Prayer are found in Matthew chapter 6. If you can recite it by heart without even thinking about it, take time to look at the words with a fresh perspective to see how Jesus is telling you to pray.

• Remember the word ACTS. Some people find it helpful to use the letters A-C-T-S to remember how to pray.

◦ A stands for adoration. Tell God you adore and praise Him. Spend time worshiping Him.

◦ C stands for confession. Confess your sins to God and ask Him to forgive you.

◦ T stands for thanksgiving. Thank God for His Son, Jesus, and the blessings in your life.

◦ S stands for supplication. Ask God to supply your needs and the needs of others.

dive | dīv

(v.): To intentionally jump or plunge headfirst

Scripture

Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. —Deuteronomy 8:3b, NKJV

Do you ever wish God would speak to you? Give you some direction?

Maybe there are a lot of things you’d rather do than read the Bible, yet that’s one of the best things to do for one-on-one time with God. The books of the Bible are His words to you. It’s full of wisdom, life lessons, truth and encouragement. If you commit to reading the Bible daily, you just might find that you look forward to it. Here are 8 tips and ideas to get started.

• Think of the Bible as food for the soul. A daily dose can bring peace and balance to your life, and help you think and act in ways pleasing to God.

• Get into a routine. Set aside at least 10 minutes a day to read the Bible. It might mean getting up a little earlier or finding a quiet spot away from everyday distractions. Maybe you read it with a cup of coffee, during your lunch break or before bed. Set a time and stick to it.

• Don’t worry if understanding the Bible seems hard at first. Before you begin reading, pray and ask God to help you understand what you’re about to read. Ask Him to show you what He wants you to learn. Study Bibles are also helpful in giving you context.

• Keep these 3 questions in mind as you read. What does this passage mean? What is God saying to me in this passage? And how can I apply this to my own life?

• Ask a friend to read along with you. Maybe you can go through a reading plan together or meet each week to talk about what you’ve read. Text or email Bible verses to each other, or use a Bible app to “friend” each other and share notes.

• The Bible can be overwhelming. Where should you begin? See if your church has a printable Bible reading plan or search for one online. You can also aim to read a chapter a day (try one Proverb a day for each day of July). Joining a Bible study group is another good option.

• Read by topic. The book of James is all about Christian living. The Psalms, a book of worship, can enrich your devotion to God, and Proverbs is full of wisdom to strengthen your relationship with others.

• Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day. Renew your commitment and pick it back up the next day.

Relationships 

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. —1 Peter 4:8, ESV

We’ve all had moments where we put tasks over people. Maybe you’ve found yourself engulfed in deadlines at work; 

FF 1-218barely coming up for air to chat with coworkers. Or perhaps you spent so much time prepping food during the dinner party that your guests had to entertain themselves. Whether with your spouse, children, friends or even complete strangers—we’re each involved in some type of relationship. And the Bible says we should take them all seriously—whether we want to or not.

The secret to strengthening relationships that have weakened over time or never really gained ground is to love. But not just half-hearted, shallow love. We are to love others earnestly, meaning with purpose and ambition. Here are three ways to be intentional with your relationships:

• Show your love. Saying “I love you” is meaningful, but can resonate deeper with action behind it. Make a greater effort to pay attention to those around you and do something to communicate your love in a way that’s special to them. Even small gestures and quality time can leave a lasting impression.

• Forget about yourself. God’s love for you is the greatest example of how to love and care for others. There is no struggle we’ve had that Christ did not experience, yet He unselfishly gave His time to meet the needs of others. In your relationships, strive for this deeper connection that leaves people changed for the better. Listen carefully. What’s important to them? How can you join them in prayer? Do you have a solution to something they need?

• Extend grace. Can you think of a few individuals you’re not on good terms with? Difficult people aren’t excluded from our relationship building. Broken relationships are perhaps the most important to mend and improve. Love is not easily angered (1 Corinthians 13:5) and if you find yourself holding a grudge or avoiding someone because of the past, it may be time to extend grace. Forget who started what and reach out with genuine forgiveness and an open heart.

I AM The Light of the World

John 8:12-30

• Olentangy Indian Caverns (Extreme Darkness) Guide with the Light An AHA moment

• Jesus is Declaring that He is NOT of this world and that there is something MORE!

• At the end of this text… it says that as He was saying these things… many believed. It was Jesus’ words that God used to bring people to faith. No miracles being performed… just the Word. It created an AHA MOMENT for these who were walking in darkness! It happened to them… it can happen to you!

• Notice that Jesus is declaring Himself to be the LIGHT OF THE WORLD… He is attributing that to having a relationship with The Father. He is reflecting LIGHT as a natural man who is dependent on the supernatural to live as LIGHT

• Famous Bible Teacher John Piper says…”Following Jesus is more than tagging along behind him. It means following him for who he is. Being so taken with him that you join yourself to Him.”

• BECOMING ONE WITH THE LIGHT
• And notice that when you follow him you have him — you have him as the light of life. “I am the light . . . Whoever follows me . . . will have the light . . .” You will have me, he says, as your light. If you follow me, you have me. I am yours. I am your Shepherd and your Sacrifice and your Living Water and your Bread from Heaven and your God, and your Light. Notice the last phrase of verse 12: “You will have the light of life.
• ”The eyes of our hearts are opened, and supernatural light streams into our mind, our heart and deep into our spirit. And thus we have the light of life. The light that comes from new, spiritual, eye-opening life — the life that gives sight to the blind soul, eternal life giving eternal sight.
• This is what God wants you to understand this morning… you are NOT going to find this kind of light anywhere else. Lots of us try to find the source of light in a lot of different ways… but honestly, there is only ONE WAY.
• If we don’t follow him, we do walk in darkness. And where is that darkness? It is in the world and in our hearts. So being “the light of the world” doesn’t mean removing all darkness from the world as he walks through the world.

Here’s what I think it means:

1 Jesus’s being “the light of the world” means the world has no other light than him. If there is going to be a light for the world, it will be Jesus. It is Jesus or darkness. There is no third alternative. No other light.

2 It means, therefore, that all the world, and everyone in it needs, Jesus as their light. If they decide no… that is their CHOICE but its more costly than they know

3 It means that the world was made for this light. This is not a foreign light. This is the light of the owner of the world. When this light comes, it not only makes sin plain as foreign and ugly, but it also makes everything good in the world shine with its full and true beauty. This world was made to be illumined by this light. This light of Christ is native to the world. its just that the god of this age… has blinded most people to this reality

4 And finally Jesus being “the light of the world” means that that one day this world will be filled with this light as the waters cover the sea, and all darkness, and all the works of darkness, and all the sons of darkness will be cast out. That’s why Jesus called hell “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). In that day, all will be light. Jesus, the radiance of the Father, will fill the world, and everything will be beautiful with the light of Christ.

But what about life now? What about all the different ways darkness affects us?

• He will be the light in which you see mountains and valleys and oceans and rivers and trees and animals and people. Nothing will be the same again when you have him as your light. Everything looks different in the light of Christ. Yes, even earthquakes and tsunamis and suffering and death. Until his light fills the earth as the waters cover the sea — until it and banishes sin and sickness and pain and earthquakes to the outer darkness — until then, even now, his light will help you bear the sorrows of darkness. It will be a soft glow to comfort you in your lonely room after the devastating loss. It will be a lamp on your troubled path. It will reveal the wise and loving face of God behind every frowning providence.

• We have to see him and receive him as the light of the world NOW!                          
• Or we will die in our sins and see it only when it is too late. 

• My prayer is that God will allow you to see and believe now.
• Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my LIGHT and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life… of whom shall I be afraid?

Praise Him in the Storm

Let me begin by saying what a JOY it was to have you in this morning's service!

Below is an interview with Dr. Erwin Luther who is a part of the Billy Graham Association. In lieu of the Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Fires, Wars and rumors of Wars... I thought Dr. Lutzer's explanation of "Where is God?" to be very timely and informative. I hope you find it inspiring!

Pastor Dan

n this interview with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, originally published in the wake of the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, the pastor and author answers questions about God’s role in natural disasters. 

On May 27-29, 2014, Dr. Lutzer will hold a seminar at The Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove. He’ll be discussing “the hidden realities of God’s invisible world.” Seminar-only tickets are still available, but The Cove’s two inns are full.

Where was God when tornadoes swept through half a dozen states from Arkansas to Alabama, leaving a trail of grief and chaos?

In the wake of loss and disaster, we struggle to understand how a God who is all-powerful and all-knowing can also be considered good and loving. Pastor and teacher Erwin Lutzer tackles this tough subject head-on in his book, Where Was God?

Q: Can you address something we hear many times, which is “Why would God allow natural disasters?”

Lutzer: One thing we have to remember is that the world is fallen. The Bible says that when man fell into sin, all of nature was cursed. In other words, it was impossible for a sinful man to live in a perfect environment of paradise, so all of nature is cursed.

But having said that, it doesn’t mean that God has a hands-off policy when it comes to natural disasters. Many people want to protect God from the clear teaching of the Bible, which shows He is involved in natural disasters. It is not that God causes them, but the very fact that He could prevent them shows that we need to face squarely the fact that natural disasters happen within God’s providence.

Let me give you a few examples. During the time of the plagues in Egypt, clearly God sent those plagues. Then you have the time of Noah; the flood obviously was sent by God. It says regarding Jonah, God hurled a storm into the sea. We must see God in natural disasters. The question, of course, is why does he allow them and what is there to be learned.

Q: What kinds of lessons can we learn from natural disasters?

Dr. Lutzer: Natural disasters are a megaphone from God and they teach us various lessons. First of all, natural disasters show us the uncertainty of life. Thousands of people wake up in the morning not knowing what is going to happen that day, such as the terrible devastation in Haiti and elsewhere. There was a couple that left California because they were afraid of earthquakes. Then when they came to Missouri, they were killed in a tornado. We can’t get away from the reality that life is very, very short and it’s possible for us to delude ourselves.

When we look at the news and see these disasters, it’s like a preview of the natural disasters that will someday come upon the earth. When you look at the second coming of Christ, you find many different natural disasters connected with it.

Q: What can Christians say to neighbors and friends who question whether God can be merciful and loving and allow disasters to happen?

Dr. Lutzer: One of the greatest challenges we have as Christians is to somehow continue to believe God and to trust Him in the midst of horrendous devastation. When you see children being separated from their fathers and mothers, when you see lives being torn and hundreds of people dead, it is very natural to ask the question, “Where is God?”

What we need to realize is that God can be trusted, even when it seems as if He is not on our side. We have to point people to the fact that God has intervened in our planet by sending Jesus Christ. There we see the love of God most clearly.

It was Martin Luther who said, “When you look around and wonder whether God cares, you must always hurry to the cross and you must see Him there.”

The other thing you need to realize is that time is short and eternity is long. Some times we reverse that. The values that we have here on this earth, although life is precious, the fact is that earthquakes do not increase death. Everybody is going to die someday. It’s the way they die that causes us so much grief.

When we hear about a natural disaster we should grieve with those who grieve. And we should ask what we can do to alleviate their suffering.

Finally, I think this is the best illustration. All of Job’s 10 children died in a natural disaster. There was a wind storm that blew down the house. Job was confronted with the fact that because of a natural disaster, there are 10 fresh graves on the hilltop. So now what is he going to do?

His wife says to curse God and die. But Job said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job shows us it is possible to worship God even without explanations, even when we don’t know all the reasons. Those who worship God under those conditions are especially blessed.

Be Encouraged!

EZRA 5: 1-17

1 Corinthians 15:58 - 

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain

Do you ever feel yourself DISCOURAGED? 

WHY DO WE BECOME DISCOURAGED?

1. WE ARE TIRED AND EVEN SICK AND DO NOT FEEL LIKE WE CAN DO IT ANYMORE
2. WHEN PEOPLE LET US DOWN … THEY DON’T COME THROUGH, THEY LET US DOWN, THEY FALL AWAY OR FAIL IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO SERVE GOD
3. Lose your focus.. when you get criticized by your family, friends, co-workers
4. Charles Spurgeon was criticized throughout his life… his contemporaries constantly criticized his methods and even his salvation
5. Another point of discouragement is because you feel as though God let you down.
1. You wonder if I should still serve or follow the Lord at all 
2. Discouragement causes people to try to fill their need with anything because they are discouraged
6. Hagai and Zachariah were prophets that were raised up by God to lead the people out of DISCOURAGEMENT
7. How do we overcome Discouragement
1. We need a fresh encounter with God
1. How does this happen? THE WORD OF GOD… we have to be in the Word so we can hear from God as he speaks directly to our situation
2. If you are not encountering God… You are not in your Word
3. Your Word oh Lord, is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my feet! Psalm 119:105
4. Even when you don’t feel it. You have to discipline yourself and just DO IT.
5. Dedicated TIME
6. Kill Procrastination
7. The Word will do 4 things:
1. The Word confronts our own sin – Sin is like a disease that will consume us and the Word is for reproof and correction
2. God’s Word confirms His Grace if we choose to REPENT from the sin that He reveals. Return to me says the Lord and I will return to you. Ezra 5:1 in Ezra 3 they have a new beginning and then they get discouraged and then in Chapter 5 they get a NEW beginning
3. God’s Word reorients our priorities under His Lordship. God uses His Word to call OUR choices to come under His design for our lives “Seek FIRST His Kingdom… instead of our own kingdoms
1. Our Temple is NOT a building… our temple is our Heart. God wants outward purity yes… but He wants inner purity more.
4. Lastly… God’s Word directs our steps! (Proverbs 3:5-6)

1. We need to get back to work for the Lord
1. When God uses us in ministry… it is encouraging
2. It gives us purpose
3. Self focus brings about self pity and then it breads discouragement
4. Inactivity causes us to focus on ourselves more than on others

     In our Service to God we have to persevere in the face of opposition.

1. The enemy is going to use opposition to bring discouragement 
2. Even though  the enemy is prowling and watching… SO IS THE LORD! He is constantly watching over us!
1. If you’re discouraged, one way to overcome it is to be BOLD with your Faith
1. To break free from discouragement… you MUST be BOLD
2. Joshua 1:9 - Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. need to trust in the Sovereign God who is going to accomplish His will among us!
3. This is where we see GOD SIZED miracles and moves of God… the stuff we cant do in our own ability. Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord
4. We believe in a God that has proven his ability throughout history and who has delivered people from circumstances and even from death itself through our salvation because of His son JESUS!

1. When we see God moving by bringing people to Christ, when we see people making decisions to turn from their sin and to walk in the Light… when we see people working for God and giving themselves away… this brings JOY to the House of the Lord
2. Illustration of a guy having a Garage Sale and one of his tables are in the yard. One table has all the tools of sin,
3. Another table had one tool on it… discouragement and it had a HUUGE Price tag on it. Why so expensive? It’s the most effective tool I have! It does  not sell and the devil still uses it today as his most effective tool to 

            

Be steadfast immovable… knowing that your work in the Lord is NOT in vain!

FLESH vs SPIRIT

Topic this morning is FLESH vs Spirit

Its like a BIG TUG OF WAR… Wanting to do what is right. nut it seems like sin is right there presenting itself as the more attractive choice.

Its like getting up in the morning… you want to, you need to but every fiber of body feels like and is tempting you to give in and to just LIE THERE IN BED!

Our Battle though is so much more serious than deciding whether or not to get out of bed…

The Bible says that our Battle is NOT against flesh and blood:

Ephesians 6:12New Living Translation (NLT)

12 For we[a] are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

ROMANS 8: 5-11 tells us that as followers of Jesus… there are really only 2 ways to live…. walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit… or to be IN STEP with the Spirit. 

Lets REMEMBER THIS… if you are a follower of Jesus… THE SPIRIT OF GOD is always in you for the purpose of lovingly leading you!

So… it becomes a battle of 2 mindsets….

• The first is where we focus on and make ourselves the center of attention and one where life is spent chasing after things that satisfy the FLESH. 

Galatians 5: 

19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. 

• The believers responsibility is to set his mind on living in submission to the indwelling Holy Spirit or to focus his mind on Jesus

• One’s mind or the concentration of one’s life either sides with one group or the other, it is impossible to be on both sides at once. You can not serve both God and mammon (or wealth, the world). The basic disposition or direction of our lives is either on God’s side or on the side of sinful human nature. The sinful nature and the indwelling Spirit are in conflict (Gal. 5:17).

WE HAVE TO FOCUS OUR MINDS!

Illustration:

The difficulty of controlling the mind is underscored by Lanny Bassham, an Olympic gold medalist in shooting the small-bore rifle. He explained in Sports Illustrated, "Our sport is controlled non-movement. We are shooting from 50 meters -- over half a football field -- at a bull’s eye three-quarters the size of a dime. If the angle of error at the point of the barrel is more that .005 of a millimeter (that is five one-thousandths), you drop into the next circle and lose a point. So we have to learn how to make everything stop. I stop my breathing. I stop my digestion by not eating for 12 hours before the competition. I train by running to keep my pulse around 60, so I have a full second between beats. You do all of this and you have the technical control. But you have to have some years of experience in reading conditions: the wind, the mirage. Then you have the other 80 percent of the problems --- focusing the mind!"

How often we fail in disciplining that vital part of life! Our thoughts begin to drift from the God centered life into worldly and forbidden areas, and we let them go. We become anxious, lustful, hateful. We think proudly. We give in to self-pity. Race car driver Sterling Moss once said of driving at high speeds, "It’s necessary to relax your muscles when you can. Relaxing your brain though is fatal!”

It’s the same in the battle with Satan. When you let the Devil control the way you think, you will live in fear, anger, depression … and some even live with thoughts of suicide. You are what you think. 

Proverbs 23:7 

"For as a man THINKS in his heart, so HE IS!” 

Your thought-life affects everything about you … how you act … how you feel … how you live. [If you THINK negative thoughts … you will ACT in a negative way. If you THINK sad things … you will BE sad. If you THINK you’re sick … you will FEEL sick. If you THINK you’re worthless… you’ll TURN OUT to be worthless. If you THINK bad thoughts … you’ll DO bad things. BUT … on the other hand … If you THINK Godly things … you’ll ACT more Godly! Each of us need to surrender our mind to God, or Satan will influence more & more, then control more & more of our thinking [ then more and more of his life. For he who will not command his thoughts will soon lose command over his actions.]

Lets go back to our TRUSTY EXERCISE to remind ourselves to get control of our mind….

ROMANS 12:2 - Let God CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK!

Isaiah 26:3 

 “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you!”

How did you learn your multiplication tables … States & Capitals … Bible verses? REPETITION! What you put into your minds, REPEATEDLY, will OCCUPY your mind. What OCCUPIES your mind, will ultimately express itself in your character and lifestyle.

SPIRIT GIVEN LIFE

In verse 11 Paul wrote about an even better promise. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

It was the Holy Spirit who was the agent of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Just as the Spirit lifted Jesus out of physical death and gave Him life in His mortal body, so the Spirit who dwells in the believer, gives to that believer new life both now and forever (Jn. 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6). In other words, God promises spiritually empowered resurrection life now (6:4, 8, 11) as we live in our mortal bodies.

The ultimate destination of our bodies is not death but resurrection. Our bodies have not yet been redeemed but they will be. How do I know? Because the indwelling Holy Spirit is not only the Spirit of Life but the Spirit of resurrection for He is the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead.

Rest assured since the same Spirit which is in Christ and raised Him from the dead now lives in us ( 1Cor. 15:23), even our bodies (1 Cor. 6:19), we will most certainly be raise to new life also. The possession of the Spirit of God which is the source of all real life is a pledge and security that our bodies will be resurrected also.

This resurrection also includes a transformation. The changing of our bodies into a new and glorious vehicle of our character and personality. This resurrected body will be free of all bondage to sin, disease, pain, decay and frailty. It will be a perfect body fit for a perfected person living in a God’s perfect place.

As you live day by day surrender to walking in the Spirit of the Living God and the hope of eternal life with God will shine brighter and brighter within your soul. It will give a peace and confidence that the world, the flesh and the devil can never take away.

If the Spirit of God dwells in a person how careful he or she should be that nothing in his thoughts or feelings offend his or her divine quest! Some questions therefore we need to ask ourselves are:

How am I at mental-discipline? When I catch myself thinking wrong thoughts, do I make myself think about something else?

Where are some of the places I go and what are some of the things I do that feed my mind with the wrong kind of stuff?

Do I need to memorize verses like Philippians 4:5-8 to help discipline and retrain my mind?

According to the Bible every person is either under the control of the Spirit or under control of the old nature, either on a road of peace or on a road that leads to death. Walking in the Spirt is living with Him as the director of our lives.

Today through surrendering to the Holy Spirit in our lives there is a constant abiding of love, power and soundness in our minds. Are you experiencing the abiding love and peace of the Spirit? If not no one can change that but you. Right here right now God is speaking. How will you respond?