Review of Week 10

HOLD DEAR: What we hold dear affects our fruitfulness for the kingdom. Practical work is a competitor of abandonment to God. Common sense allows us to avoid what God requires.

FINISH: To finish the race, through all of life’s trials, is to enter into the joy of the Lord. In His presence is fulness of joy.

NEXT STEP: If we are His, we are His ministers ALWAYS. We must draw on him for our next step. There are no situations we will enter where we are not His representatives. Represent Him well.

CONQUER: In all things we are more than conquerors. The heavy surf is not something we fight. Its something on which we ride. God’s love can not be shaken.

SURRENDER: We don’t reform our old life, we live His life. Redemption was obtained at the cross, and when we are truly crucified with Christ, the life we live is Christ in us.

FOLLOW: We can’t set up camp on yesterday’s events. We must walk with Jesus, even when excitement turns to deep challenge. We can’t turn away.

MESSAGE: Do we try to carry a message, or are we the message? We’re ready to convince, rebuke, exhort, and teach when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Be the message.

Mar 11 - VISION

Acts 26:19 “...So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision,...”

Context: Paul, defending himself before Agrippa

Paul’s vision - to spread the gospel and establish churches throughout the known world.

- He embraced the vision. What have we embraced?

- He touched the lives of others. What do we work into other’s lives?

- He bore all the hardships along the way. What are we willing to bear?

How do you get a heavenly vision? [from God, not man. Saul to Paul was a change.]

How do you lose a vision? [Spiritual leakage from not allowing the vision to permeate all practical issues]

How can we live in the light of God’s vision for us? Psalms 119:105 “...Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path...”

When does practical work put our soul’s welfare at peril? [when it causes us to miss the fulfillment of the vision]

How do we live in the light of eternity? [always be aware that the picture is bigger]

Mar 12 - SURRENDER

Mark 10:28 “...Peter began to say to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You..."

Context: This scripture comes following the interchange about how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples, who from my understanding were for the most part not wealthy, were astonished and said “Who than can be saved.” Jesus response: Mark 10:27 "...With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God..."

Do we see much abandonment for God these days?

Is surrender optional?

In the face of an overwhelmingly strong military force, what are the options? [death or surrender]

In the face of Almighty God, what are the options?

- surrender: death to self now, eternal life starts now.

- failure to surrender: self lives now, eternal torment (starts now?)

Is surrender negotiable?

Militarily, the ability to negotiate terms depends on the relative strength of the forces. Even if one party is weaker, if they are crafty enough, they might negotiate favorable terms.

God has all the power, and thus all the terms. Can anyone outfox God?

What do you gain by surrendering to God?

- Deliverance from sin.

- Holy Spirit guidance.

- Purpose and value.

- Kingdom life.

Why is surrender for personal gain a problem?

- It’s eros - self centered, with a hook.

- It’s not fealty - not the loyalty and devotion that God deserves.

1 Tim. 6:3-6 “...If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment...”

Is a different gospel being preached in 2012 - a means of gain.

True surrender (abandonment) is way beyond natural, selfish devotion.

Mar 13 - SAVED TO

John 3:16 "...For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life...”

What does it mean to salvage something? [find a use for something that others would discard]

What do you think salvation is?

Is it being salvaged from a worse fate?

Is there part of your self that doesn’t need deliverance?

Is there part that hasn’t been delivered?

Do you want salvation to touch all that your are?

From what do you need to be saved?

- a beastly, anti Christian world.

- a fallen, perverted nature.

To what do you need to be saved?

- intimate relationship with God.

- loyalty and devotion to the King and the kingdom.

FROM without the TO leaves a person in the middle of a major tug-of-war.

Without the TO, a person lives in the wilderness. They question their decision to walk away from what the world offers. They start longing for the old life.

Was the act of God giving his only Son an act of abandonment? Did He love us enough to take “full surrender” action?

Do we love God enough to take “full surrender” action TO loyalty and devotion?

Mar 14 - YIELDING

Rom 6:16 “...Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?...”

Context: Paul talking about dying with Christ, dead indeed to sin, therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body.

Have you ever felt dominated by sin?

Consider the major area of struggle in your life that repeatedly makes you feel defeated?

Is sin your master?

Can you trace it back to a time of yielding to something that wasn’t from God?

Can one incident progress to enslaving tyranny?

Is it easier to get into debt or out of debt? Into sin or out of sin?

Can you will yourself out of tyranny?

Can a slave tell his master he insists on being free? No, he needs his freedom purchased by another - Christ purchased ours. We can’t fight our way to freedom - we yield to the finished work of Christ! CHOOSE! Abandon

God’s part: Prophesied in Isaiah 61:1 “...The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;..”

Our part:

Step 1 - Admit responsibility for being dominated by sin, as opposed to blaming sin for beating up on you.

Step 2 - Choose the right master. God, not self (sin).

Fact or Truth

Fact - you struggle in this world.

Truth - Rom. 6:14 “...For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace...”

We need to get serious about releasing our darkness to His light.

Mar 15 - DISMAY

Mark 10:32 “...They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him,...”

Context: Same part of scripture we talked about where the disciples had surrendered everything to follow Jesus.

Have the challenges of following Jesus become bigger than you expected them to be?

Is it true that Jesus goes places we wouldn’t have gone? “...they were amazed...”

Is it true that following Him to these places takes courage? “...those who followed were fearful...”

Have you ever been “not quite sure” about where He was leading you?

Is Jesus is determined to lead you?

Is there some distance between you and Him?

In what way is Jesus “far ahead of us”? [He always operates in the ‘big picture’ - they were on their way to Jerusalem where God's redemptive work would be finished]

What is the darkness of dismay? [recognition of how short we fall, how little we know, how far behind we are]

What is the appropriate response to this dismay?

Mar 16 - JUDGMENT

2 Cor.5:10 “...For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad...”

Context: Paul says in the verses immediately preceding this that “...we walk by faith, not by sight...”, “...we are of good courage...”, and “...our ambition ...to be pleasing to Him...”

How does sin exact it’s own punishment on a person?

- it traps a person in less than God’s intentions.

- it becomes a person’s new normal.

Which sin escapes the judgment of God? [none]

How can the emphasis on ‘God is Love’ pervert our understanding of sin?

- we fail to understand the severity of the ‘Wrath of God’.

- we trivialize what Christ endured at Calvary.

- we lose the urgency of proclaiming the good news.

What is hypocrisy? [saying you believe something but living something else]

What did O.C. say is worse than hypocrisy? [unconscious unreality - being unaware of the darkness that has enslaved us]

Will we be surprised at the judgment seat?

What is the value of living with an awareness of the judgment seat of Christ?

How can we avoid unconscious unreality? [light chases darkness away]

Are we walking in the light?

Mar 17 - PLEASE HIM

2 Cor.5:9 “...Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him...”

What is the driving force in your life that all the rest of life is subjugated to?

What are some common goals that drive people’s lives?

- to become wealthy, famous, popular.

- to win souls, to establish churches, to have revivals.

Are these things wrong? How can they be a problem? If our goals wander from pleasing God - that’s the mark we will hit.

Do we need the approval of our audience?

If we get their approval does it mean we’ve hit the mark?

If we don’t get their approval does it mean we’ve missed the mark?

1 degree off, over a long distance, is a huge miss. Take aim people of God.