Review of Week 17:

UNVEILED: Do we live with unveiled faces? Do we see clearly? Does the world see God in and through us?

WORSHIP and WORK: Our work should spring directly from our worship and it should please Him.

SUCCESS: Religious success might be the biggest snare of all. We dare not pervert God’s intentions.

EMPLOYABLE: Are we usable? Does God find us ready and willing?

CONVICTIONS: We must be careful that our convictions don’t replace the Living God.

SEEK HIM: Are we seeking the “dream job” or are we seeking to work faithfully for the “dream boss”?

RECEIVE LIFE: True life with God is both a surprise and a delight. Accept it. Embrace it.

Apr 29 - CERTAINTY

1 John 3:2 “...Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is...”

Do you prefer certainty or uncertainty? Do you prefer life within known parameters or life wide open?

Is planning bad? Is not planning bad?

What is the downside of a 5 year plan, a 10 year plan, or a retirement plan?

- the focus is on what we want or expect.

- the plans are made from our limited perspective.

O.C. says certainty is the mark of the common sense life, uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. Do you agree?

Why are we unable to be certain of what tomorrow will bring? [we aren’t given the blueprint, just told to follow]

What is your response to not knowing what tomorrow will bring?

- sadness, fear, anxiety?

- joy, expectation, excitement?

Who is in charge of your tomorrow?

Matt. 6:34 “...So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own...”

James 4:13-14 “...Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away...”

To what does certainty of belief lead?

- independence.

- self righteousness.

- criticism.

- boxed in life.

To what does certainty of God lead?

- dependence.

- humility.

- flexibility.

That’s the difference between childlike faith and deadly dogma.

Apr 30 - AGAPE

1 Cor.13:4 “...Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,...”

The problem with mankind is made obvious by reading 1 Cor.13 twice. First substitute Jesus for every occurrence of love - it works. Second, substitute your name for every occurrence of love - aah, the problem with mankind.

1 John 4:11 “...Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another...”

Is love a set of predefined thoughts and actions?

- marriages struggle when either, or both, cling to predetermined definitions.

- relationships struggle when either, or both, cling to predetermined definitions.

Have you tried to love as Christ loves - tried to live 1 Cor.13?

What happens ?

- flesh can’t accomplish it.

- 1 Cor.13 is a reflection of who we are or aren’t.

- 1 Cor.13 reveals to us our spiritual status.

I’m still reflecting on “love is patient, love is kind, love does not insist on it’s own way”. I’m not always happy about my status on these three, much less the whole chapter.

Love isn’t something God does - its something He is.

1 John 4:16-21 ”...We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also...”

Love can’t be something we do - it has to be something we are.

When will we love (agape) spontaneously?

- when love resides in us and is one with us.

- when self-serving love (eros) is replaced by a heart filled with God and led by God.

May 1 - USED

2 Cor.5:7 “...for we walk by faith, not by sight...”

What is special about the born again experience? [realization of how much Almighty God cares about you]

What changes as you mature and become more usable in His work? [spotlight shifts off of you]

Can you go through a day without looking at yourself in a mirror?

Can you go through a day without looking at God and His purposes in this world?

What does desire for exceptional moments indicate? [we want “God for us” more than we want “us for God’s purposes”.

What place does inspiration have in our work for God?

How can touches of inspiration lead us astray?

Are you a trophy or a tool (using the traditional meaning for tool, not modern slang)?

What is a trophy?

- something that goes to the winner when a contest is over.

- is there is a great contest for your soul? [principalities and powers]

What do you do with a trophy? [shine it up and show it off]

What is a tool?

- something designed to make a task easier to do.

What do you do with a tool? [use it]

Would you rather sit on a shelf or be used? Which is more comfortable?

Would you like to be the shovel used in the manure pile? Is this world of sin the manure pile God wants to work in?

It may be easier to feel good about ourselves when we see God polishing us up and showing us off, but we are called to walk by faith not sight. Its hard to see when we’re stuck in a pile of manure, but we may be used greatly at just that point. Exercise faith.

May 2 - PATIENCE

Habakkuk 2:3 “...For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay...”

Waiting! An unavoidable part of our existence.

What are some difficult things we wait for:

- Secretary of State.

- End of the School Year.

- Marriage to become what it should be.

- Church to become what it should be.

- Work to become what it should be.

- Government to become what it should be.

- Children or other loved ones to come to Christ.

What is patience? What is impatience?

What causes impatience? [I want it and I want it now]

What cause patience? [understanding of God’s sovereignty, God’s concern, and God’s interaction]

How can satisfaction have a negative affect on our spiritual journey?

- our reach must exceed our grasp.

- to plateau at a level of satisfaction is to stop growing.

Is satisfaction a worthy goal? [it’s not wrong, but it has a big dose of self attached to it]

When we’re reaching for an as yet unrealized vision from God, we’re pressing on in God. Though it tarries, wait for it. It will surely come.

May 3 - PRAY

Eph.6:18 “...With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,...”

CONTEXT: Is this what Paul says we are to do after putting on the whole armor of God, or is this part of the armor? How could praying be a part of the armor?

O.C. says two things get in the way of proper intercession.

1. Personal sympathy

2. Personal prejudice

How is sympathy a valuable starting point for intercession? [we pray because we care]

How can sympathy become a problem? [our ideas of what we want for someone can conflict with what God is doing in their life] (ex. Person on journey - must go through deep valley, with nasty briars to get to the mountain top on the other side. They start through - we feel sympathy - pull them back up)

How can personal prejudice become a problem? [we can easily push for something God didn’t intend (ex. Person on journey - you give them explicit instructions of the way they must go, failing of course to mention to them that you’ve been wandering around essentially lost for years - OR - pushing them to a valley that you went through that God had no intention for them traversing)

If proper intercession doesn’t have room for our sympathy or prejudice, how can we intercede?

Rom. 8:26-28 “...In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose...”

Why is identification with God the key to intercession?

- without God, our small picture rules our desires and prayers.

- with God, His big picture rules our desires and prayers.

Why is “I will not allow that to happen” a dangerous statement? [that may be exactly what God intends to use for a higher good]

Do we care more about circumstances than we care about souls?

May 4 - ACCESS

Heb.10:19-22 ”...Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence (boldness) to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water...”

Was the High Priest, of old, bold when entering the Holy of Holies? [To go from the place of common man to the place where God manifested himself was scary business to say the least. Remember the rope around their ankle to pull them out if they perished]

Why was it so dangerous? God was holy and a sinful, impure man couldn’t stand before Him.

Has anything changed? Is God less holy? Can impure man stand before Him?

- there is a new and living way, inaugurated by Jesus

- access was obtained by the brutal crucifixion of Christ

- Jesus is the ONLY way we can stand before the Holy God.

We’re called to be intercessors, to go boldly before the throne of grace. What do you have to say to God? What do you bring?

What are the disadvantages of boldness? [access can turn to bossiness, demands, and stubborn persistence]

Will our selfishness have sway in the throne room? Can we even get to the throne room if selfishness exists?

Does God need to know what we have to tell Him in prayer?

Do we need to know what God has to tell us in prayer?

What is the purpose of intercessory prayer? [Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven]

Are we, like Jesus, to be proclaiming and obtaining liberty for those in captivity?

May 5 - JUDGMENT

1 Peter 4:17-19 “...For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right...”

Is judgment day coming?

Romans 14:10 “...But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God...”

What will happen on that day?

2 Cor. 5:9-10 “...Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 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...”

Is this important to know? Is it being preached?

Why do people find it difficult to get to God?

- Deception

- Rebellion

Does it matter which is causing their difficulty? [NO! The truth needs to be presented clearly in either case]

God is Love. God is Just. How does dropping one of these pervert the gospel?

It is God’s character to judge right and wrong correctly, and to pass appropriate judgment, “...beginning with the household of God...”

Do you think it is difficult to be saved? Read 1 Peter 4 again.