Book twelve here.
Chapter Five
1. As I meditate on your great sacrifice it seems like I'm missing something very profound about it. How does the blood wash away sin? Was this actually some sort of exchange? How does your death bring life? Is it really true you paid some sort of debt I owed?
Questions aside, I'm freshly amazed that you gave your life for my benefit. This astounding act of love boggles my mind.
2. I am so fortunate you saved me. More fortunate than a billionaire, a pulitzer prize winner, or an elite athlete.
3. Why did you save me ? You answered, why not?
4. When you rose, you didn't stop rising.
5. Your existence is fundamentally mysterious.
6. I am so guilty of underestimating you.
7. Psalm 19:1-2 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
The lost man always has your testimony before his eyes. Creation declares your wonders. In your faithfulness you reveal yourself.
8. Isaiah 9:2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.
The imagery of dark vs. light is fascinating. Ever since you said, "let there be light," light has been your testimony, your dwelling place, your very nature.
9. 40:12 "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the heavens with a span?"
I'm picturing a huge hand with a tiny dot in the middle of the palm. That dot is the universe.
10. Isaiah 40:28 The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
When you rested from creating, it wasn't because you were weary. That's something that grabs my attention.
"Weary" is the Greek word kopiaó. It describes the act of laboring or working to the point of exhaustion.
Opinion: We don't rest because we're weary, we rest because our work is done. There's always more work, but when we rest it is from the work we completed.
We recover from weariness, but we should rest from our work.
Heb. 1:3 ...when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high...
Jesus is seated. At regal rest. He did his work, ascended, and sat down.
11. Sometimes we put our lives in some sort of order, but father usually has a different order. The result may seem like chaos but its really father's work in our lives.
12. If a church service really powerful, it's usually because someone has been preparing the ground with prayer.
13. Isa 40:13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?
Psalm 115:3 Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.
The worship, obedience, and prayers of your people make absolutely no difference, yet make all the difference. They change nothing, but everything does change. You don't change your mind, but you do relent from what you were going to do in order to do something else.
Paradoxes. I love your inscrutable nature!
14. Long brainstorm ahead:
I thought, what should I read? The Lord impressed Philemon on my mind. Hmm. Not exactly a powerful read. Ok, I'll read it.
Philemon 8-9 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love.
Philemon had a slave named Onesimus who became a Christian. Paul wanted them to get back together as brothers and clear up anything they had against each other.
Paul could simply command Philemon, but he chose to use relationship instead.
Philemon 18-19 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self.
Onesimus owed Philemon money, but Philemon owed Paul his life. Because of this, Paul wanted Philemon to forgive Onesimus' debt. "He owes you, but you owe me bigger."
Principle: When I serve or help someone with something, my attitude is not that I'm owed something as a result. Rather, it's that I'm trying to repay them for their love for me.
This is where my thinking leads me: the relationship dynamic of the Body, serving one another without any other currency but sacrificial love. The community of believers meeting each other's every need. No one needing to hire a repairman or going outside the Body for services.
We might not be able to do this in every instance, but we do need to change our thinking.
Book eleven here.
Book ten here.
Book nine here.
Book eight here.
Book seven here.
Book six here.
Book five here.
Book four here.
Book three here.
Book two here.
Book one here.
This is a continuation of my practice to take notes on what I prayed.
-----------------------
Chapter One
1. Real breakthrough when we find contentment in you.
2. I can be content and hungry at the same time.
3. Intimate fellowship is always followed by revelation.
4. Here's some interesting stuff from Hebrews...
Those leaders recognized two things of highest importance: prayer and the things Jesus said.
Acts 2:42 "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer."
Book ten here.
Book nine here.
Book eight here.
Book seven here.
Book six here.
Book five here.
Book four here.
Book three here.
Book two here.
Book one here.
This is a continuation of my practice to take notes on what I prayed.
-----------------------
Chapter One
1. Real breakthrough when we find contentment in you.
2. I can be content and hungry at the same time.
3. Intimate fellowship is always followed by revelation.
4. Here's some interesting stuff from Hebrews...
Heb 3:19 ...it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter...
Heb 4:3 Now we who have believed enter that rest...
Heb 4:10 For whoever enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His.
Israel's rest was the land flowing with milk and honey. But they wandered in the desert because the still thought like slaves. They were unable to enter into the promise.
This is typology for salvation. The rest is salvation by faith. This is the place of a soul at peace. We rest from works that attempt to obtain (or retain) righteousness.
5. Heb 11:6 ... Without faith it is impossible to please God...
Or, without the rest it is impossible to please God.
6. If we don't embrace God's change we are like slaves in Egypt and will wander in the desert.
7. Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The word is not an "it." This is Jesus. Jesus pierces, not the Bible. Jesus knows hearts, not the Bible. Jesus sees everything, not the Bible.
We have got to stop believing falseness.
8. Heb 5:12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food!
1 Cor. 4:15 Even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers...
"Guardians " is paidagógos, a guardian or tutor responsible for the care and instruction of a child.
A babysitter.
Father, are we on milk or solid food? Do we have babysitters or fathers?
This concerns me greatly.
9. The church should be training up warriors, not making followers.
10. Heb 11:6 ...without faith it is impossible to please God...
Father, increase our faith! We want to believe, we want to know you, we want to honor you and please you. We are so weak, but you are strong. We depend on you for everything, help us. Help us!
11. I'm not inclined to have attachment to things like a church, but you've planted in me a deep affection for C3.
It would be like a caretaker. A caretaker doesn't own the garden, he simply tends to it. He doesn't direct its affairs, he serves it. He doesn't have a public position, he's anonymous. It's not his possession, but it is his passion.
12. The gospel establishes our relationship with God, prayer is what maintains it.
13. We have the kindest, wisest, most generous being in the whole universe available to help and connect with us—24/7. Given this, our prayerlessness is surely us not understanding our incredible situation.
14. "For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?"
"Sir," the man replied, "leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down." Luke 13:8-9
So I plead for this tree you've planted called C3. Cause us to bear fruit for many seasons. I vow to to keep digging around the roots and fertilizing it with my prayers.
15. Thinking about the rapture. It won't be like the Left Behind books and movies. When he comes for us it will not be a secret:
1 Thess 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
The rapture is on the Last Day, the Day of the Lord, the same day he judges the nations:
16. Joel 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
It will be a great day for the saved, but a terrible one for the lost.
"Terrible" is yare', conveys the idea of fear. This is the fate of my unsaved friends and family. This is the outcome many, too many, will experience. O, father! Give us a passion for those who are perishing.
Chapter Two
1. The Bible records Jesus praying 25 times. But the number one topic Jesus talked about was the kingdom.
"Jesus taught more about finances than anything else" is false.
2. It's so easy to get entrenched into traditions and habits. Father, how do we separate what we think church should be from what you want it to be?
3. We shouldn't expect you to move in our church and think it will make things easier.
We shouldn't expect you to move in our church and think things will not change.
We shouldn't expect you to move in our church and think there will not be upheaval.
4. Chaos is an inevitable part of change. The coming of your order requires there to have been disorder as an antecedent.
Pentecost was chaotic change. Then Peter rose to speak and your order was established. After this the book of Acts describes chaotic change as your new order came into being.
I wonder if you might actually bring disorder to establish your order here.
Sometimes you remodel the house, and other times you tear it down to build a new one. But there's always sawdust.
5. Revival is always on your terms.
6. Breakthrough does not happen without warfare. No warriors, no breakthrough.
7. "Hearts are set on pilgrimage." Psalm 84:5. The psalmist longed to go. This is the longing for God's presence.
Psalm 122:1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
Father, we now have the blessing of being able to come to you right here where we're at. We don’t need a temple, we are your temple. Would you fill the temple with your Spirit? Would you move in us? Help us, father!
8. I am so glad that I have the blessing of being a part of this church! Every time, I look forward to worshipping with this family. My leaders are consumed with knowing you. My friends bless me. My heart is moved in this place.
9. Desperation is a key ingredient of prayer.
10. We can always tell what a leadership values by what we see in their church.
11. Acts 6:4 "But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
This is typology for salvation. The rest is salvation by faith. This is the place of a soul at peace. We rest from works that attempt to obtain (or retain) righteousness.
5. Heb 11:6 ... Without faith it is impossible to please God...
Or, without the rest it is impossible to please God.
6. If we don't embrace God's change we are like slaves in Egypt and will wander in the desert.
7. Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The word is not an "it." This is Jesus. Jesus pierces, not the Bible. Jesus knows hearts, not the Bible. Jesus sees everything, not the Bible.
We have got to stop believing falseness.
8. Heb 5:12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food!
1 Cor. 4:15 Even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers...
"Guardians " is paidagógos, a guardian or tutor responsible for the care and instruction of a child.
A babysitter.
Father, are we on milk or solid food? Do we have babysitters or fathers?
This concerns me greatly.
9. The church should be training up warriors, not making followers.
10. Heb 11:6 ...without faith it is impossible to please God...
Father, increase our faith! We want to believe, we want to know you, we want to honor you and please you. We are so weak, but you are strong. We depend on you for everything, help us. Help us!
11. I'm not inclined to have attachment to things like a church, but you've planted in me a deep affection for C3.
It would be like a caretaker. A caretaker doesn't own the garden, he simply tends to it. He doesn't direct its affairs, he serves it. He doesn't have a public position, he's anonymous. It's not his possession, but it is his passion.
12. The gospel establishes our relationship with God, prayer is what maintains it.
13. We have the kindest, wisest, most generous being in the whole universe available to help and connect with us—24/7. Given this, our prayerlessness is surely us not understanding our incredible situation.
14. "For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?"
"Sir," the man replied, "leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down." Luke 13:8-9
So I plead for this tree you've planted called C3. Cause us to bear fruit for many seasons. I vow to to keep digging around the roots and fertilizing it with my prayers.
15. Thinking about the rapture. It won't be like the Left Behind books and movies. When he comes for us it will not be a secret:
1 Thess 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
The rapture is on the Last Day, the Day of the Lord, the same day he judges the nations:
16. Joel 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
It will be a great day for the saved, but a terrible one for the lost.
"Terrible" is yare', conveys the idea of fear. This is the fate of my unsaved friends and family. This is the outcome many, too many, will experience. O, father! Give us a passion for those who are perishing.
Chapter Two
1. The Bible records Jesus praying 25 times. But the number one topic Jesus talked about was the kingdom.
"Jesus taught more about finances than anything else" is false.
2. It's so easy to get entrenched into traditions and habits. Father, how do we separate what we think church should be from what you want it to be?
3. We shouldn't expect you to move in our church and think it will make things easier.
We shouldn't expect you to move in our church and think things will not change.
We shouldn't expect you to move in our church and think there will not be upheaval.
4. Chaos is an inevitable part of change. The coming of your order requires there to have been disorder as an antecedent.
Pentecost was chaotic change. Then Peter rose to speak and your order was established. After this the book of Acts describes chaotic change as your new order came into being.
I wonder if you might actually bring disorder to establish your order here.
Sometimes you remodel the house, and other times you tear it down to build a new one. But there's always sawdust.
5. Revival is always on your terms.
6. Breakthrough does not happen without warfare. No warriors, no breakthrough.
7. "Hearts are set on pilgrimage." Psalm 84:5. The psalmist longed to go. This is the longing for God's presence.
Psalm 122:1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
Father, we now have the blessing of being able to come to you right here where we're at. We don’t need a temple, we are your temple. Would you fill the temple with your Spirit? Would you move in us? Help us, father!
8. I am so glad that I have the blessing of being a part of this church! Every time, I look forward to worshipping with this family. My leaders are consumed with knowing you. My friends bless me. My heart is moved in this place.
9. Desperation is a key ingredient of prayer.
10. We can always tell what a leadership values by what we see in their church.
11. Acts 6:4 "But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
Those leaders recognized two things of highest importance: prayer and the things Jesus said.
Acts 2:42 "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer."
The people recognized two things of highest importance: the things the apostles said about Jesus, and togetherness in fellowship and prayer.
12. We could do without a worship band and still be fine as a church. We don’t necessarily need a children’s ministry. We could survive without a sermon. But a church that doesn’t pray doesn’t stand a chance.
13. A Christian's commitment to prayer is typically agnostic: We approach prayer as if if God might not exist.
14. I often feel like we're missing our chance, that the door won't be open forever. Have we really chosen to be a pleasant, nice little church? We could be so much more. It's your heart for us to be so much more.
I plead for this church. With all the strength I can muster I plead for this church. I plead that you would intervene in our comfort, our lukewarmness. Reveal our hidden sins. Tear down our false understandings.
Help us, father.
Create in us a fixation on pleasing you. This church is for you and your glory, not for ours. It's about time that your church was given over to you, for it belongs to you.
Help us, father.
Chapter Three
1. Colossians 1: 10 ...walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God...
I need for my walk to be better. It's so easy to get a little off track. Guard my steps, Holy Spirit.
2. I see faith starting to arise in many of our younger men (20-40), and it gladdens my heart. Father, let the young men gain the integrity and wisdom to take their places of influence, leadership, and kingdom work.
Isaiah 40:30-31 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. 31 But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength...
I pray these young men would never stumble, but rather they would learn to wait upon you.
3. Waiting on you is so hard, but so worth it.
4. Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people...
Grace, father's desire to lean towards His creation with favor. "For the grace of God has appeared..." Father's objective was to draw near via your death and resurrection, Jesus. You are grace itself.
5. Too often we talk about gifts and power when we should be talking about fruit and character.
6. Matt 21:42, 44 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes... 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.
Real life, filled with the Spirit, means deciding if we want to be broken or crushed. We should choose to fall on the cornerstone and let him break us.
7. The cornerstone is the first stone laid, plumb, level, and square. Everything else is built from this reference point. Its excellence determines the excellence of what is built upon it.
Ephesians 2:19-20 ...citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
8. We don't need more programs, clever strategies, or edgy sermon topics, we need a kingdom mindset where everything revolves around pleasing the King of this kingdom.
9. We will never see the fullness of the kingdom until we embrace our kingdom citizenship. This includes not making our sin an idol.
10. Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
But Jesus wasn't forsaken:
Psalm 22:24 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
The father never turned his face away. We need to stop believing falseness.
11. Heb 7:24-25 But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
"Completely" is "pantelés," is used to describe a state of totality or wholeness, often in the context of spiritual or moral perfection.
This high priest has accomplished the one perfect final intercession, founded on the fact of his resurrection. "It is finished."
12. It's so to important to understand that there's a difference between the current church and the church father has in mind.
We do Sunday services, connect groups, and Tuesday night Pursuit. A few do some counseling or pray for people.
That's about it. Is this really what our church is supposed to be?
13. I keep asking you for this church to take hold of its promise. I admit I get frustrated. But who else would I go to? Who else has the power to bring us into righteousness?
It is utterly reasonable to pray to you. It is the most sensible, logical thing a person can do. There's nothing mystical or crazy about praying to my creator and savior.
So I keep asking for revival because you are the only being in the universe who can actually do it.
14. Some posit a god who is disconnected from his creation. Deists think that you set everything in motion and then left the scene. But that's impossible because the universe is sustained. If you leave the scene, the scene falls apart.
Acts 17:28 For in Him we live and move and have our being.
15. Fear of the Lord is fear, not awe or reverence. When Ananias and Sapphira were killed it didn’t result in awe:
Acts 5:11 And great fear came over the whole church and all who heard about these events.
Fear, phóbos, terror, to run away as in flight.
16. 2 Cor. 7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
This is how we know we are not the church we need to be. Not that people need to die, but rather, the real fear of the Lord needs to be present among us.
Chapter Four
1. If we don't get the cross right, we won't get the resurrection right.
If we get the blood wrong, we won't get the Spirit right.
If we don't understand what happened to the old man, we won't understand the new man.
If we don't understand holiness, we won't understand the Glory.
I want to learn to command my soul before I command demons.
2. It seems to me that giving honor is not contingent on if I think it is deserved.
Father, I want to be a person who gives honor. Yes, even to those who I think don't deserve it. My track record is not great here.
Romans 12:10: Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
3. After 2000 years of experience, the Church today should be powerful and glorious, expressing the most profound and sublime worship, soaring sermons, and doing the greater works Jesus promised.
4. I just now spent the last 20 minutes mourning the state of the church. But getting my head on straight once again, I ask you for this church. I claim this church for your use, for the high purpose you intend for it.
I bind myself afresh to this church. Not to a name or an organization or a person, but to the purpose for which you created it. I bind myself to the kingdom thing, the Spirit thing, the thing you have spoken and promised.
Now my intercessions start anew. My worship is invigorated, and my service is filled with spiritual purpose.
5. Luke 18:13 But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner!"
Is this where we get the "bowed head, eyes closed" posture for prayer?
Joh 17:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said...
If anyone knows how to pray, it is Jesus. If there is anyone who is going to have His prayers answered, it is Jesus. The right way to pray is Jesus’ way of praying.
6. James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Some Christians believe in "irresistible grace," that people can do nothing to draw near to God, that he alone does everything. I don't believe that.
7. I want to be careful how I handle your grace.
8. I sometimes wonder how wrong we have gotten you. The Bible is a mere glimpse of you. As wonderful as it is, it is only a partial record.
So we fill in the blanks and wrestle with doctrines and try to figure you out. Too often, we know facts about you but we don't really know you.
Phil 3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings...
This kind of knowing doesn't seem very popular these days.
9. Titus 3:4-5 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
As easy as it is to misunderstand grace (your desire to lean towards us), it's mercy that really boggles my mind.
10. Psalm 103:10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
Repay is gamal, To deal fully or adequately with.
You do not fully deal with us when it comes to our iniquities; that is, you give us mercy rather than death.
Thank you for the cross that set me free
Thank you for the blood that washed me clean
Thank you this life you've given me
Thank you for the cross
Thank you for the cross
11. Psalm 32:6 Therefore let all the godly pray to You while You may be found. Surely when great waters rise, they will not come near.
You can be found. This is such a profound truth. In these days when darkness seems to be everywhere, you can be found. In deepest depression, you can be found. In desperate circumstances, you can be found. When there is no hope, you can be found.
12. Psalm 107:6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; he rescued them from their distress.
Even when there's no trouble, you are attentive to those who seek you.
12. We could do without a worship band and still be fine as a church. We don’t necessarily need a children’s ministry. We could survive without a sermon. But a church that doesn’t pray doesn’t stand a chance.
13. A Christian's commitment to prayer is typically agnostic: We approach prayer as if if God might not exist.
14. I often feel like we're missing our chance, that the door won't be open forever. Have we really chosen to be a pleasant, nice little church? We could be so much more. It's your heart for us to be so much more.
I plead for this church. With all the strength I can muster I plead for this church. I plead that you would intervene in our comfort, our lukewarmness. Reveal our hidden sins. Tear down our false understandings.
Help us, father.
Create in us a fixation on pleasing you. This church is for you and your glory, not for ours. It's about time that your church was given over to you, for it belongs to you.
Help us, father.
Chapter Three
1. Colossians 1: 10 ...walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God...
I need for my walk to be better. It's so easy to get a little off track. Guard my steps, Holy Spirit.
2. I see faith starting to arise in many of our younger men (20-40), and it gladdens my heart. Father, let the young men gain the integrity and wisdom to take their places of influence, leadership, and kingdom work.
Isaiah 40:30-31 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. 31 But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength...
I pray these young men would never stumble, but rather they would learn to wait upon you.
3. Waiting on you is so hard, but so worth it.
4. Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people...
Grace, father's desire to lean towards His creation with favor. "For the grace of God has appeared..." Father's objective was to draw near via your death and resurrection, Jesus. You are grace itself.
5. Too often we talk about gifts and power when we should be talking about fruit and character.
6. Matt 21:42, 44 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes... 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.
Real life, filled with the Spirit, means deciding if we want to be broken or crushed. We should choose to fall on the cornerstone and let him break us.
7. The cornerstone is the first stone laid, plumb, level, and square. Everything else is built from this reference point. Its excellence determines the excellence of what is built upon it.
Ephesians 2:19-20 ...citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
8. We don't need more programs, clever strategies, or edgy sermon topics, we need a kingdom mindset where everything revolves around pleasing the King of this kingdom.
9. We will never see the fullness of the kingdom until we embrace our kingdom citizenship. This includes not making our sin an idol.
10. Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
But Jesus wasn't forsaken:
Psalm 22:24 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
The father never turned his face away. We need to stop believing falseness.
11. Heb 7:24-25 But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
"Completely" is "pantelés," is used to describe a state of totality or wholeness, often in the context of spiritual or moral perfection.
This high priest has accomplished the one perfect final intercession, founded on the fact of his resurrection. "It is finished."
12. It's so to important to understand that there's a difference between the current church and the church father has in mind.
We do Sunday services, connect groups, and Tuesday night Pursuit. A few do some counseling or pray for people.
That's about it. Is this really what our church is supposed to be?
13. I keep asking you for this church to take hold of its promise. I admit I get frustrated. But who else would I go to? Who else has the power to bring us into righteousness?
It is utterly reasonable to pray to you. It is the most sensible, logical thing a person can do. There's nothing mystical or crazy about praying to my creator and savior.
So I keep asking for revival because you are the only being in the universe who can actually do it.
14. Some posit a god who is disconnected from his creation. Deists think that you set everything in motion and then left the scene. But that's impossible because the universe is sustained. If you leave the scene, the scene falls apart.
Acts 17:28 For in Him we live and move and have our being.
15. Fear of the Lord is fear, not awe or reverence. When Ananias and Sapphira were killed it didn’t result in awe:
Acts 5:11 And great fear came over the whole church and all who heard about these events.
Fear, phóbos, terror, to run away as in flight.
16. 2 Cor. 7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
This is how we know we are not the church we need to be. Not that people need to die, but rather, the real fear of the Lord needs to be present among us.
Chapter Four
1. If we don't get the cross right, we won't get the resurrection right.
If we get the blood wrong, we won't get the Spirit right.
If we don't understand what happened to the old man, we won't understand the new man.
If we don't understand holiness, we won't understand the Glory.
I want to learn to command my soul before I command demons.
2. It seems to me that giving honor is not contingent on if I think it is deserved.
Father, I want to be a person who gives honor. Yes, even to those who I think don't deserve it. My track record is not great here.
Romans 12:10: Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
3. After 2000 years of experience, the Church today should be powerful and glorious, expressing the most profound and sublime worship, soaring sermons, and doing the greater works Jesus promised.
4. I just now spent the last 20 minutes mourning the state of the church. But getting my head on straight once again, I ask you for this church. I claim this church for your use, for the high purpose you intend for it.
I bind myself afresh to this church. Not to a name or an organization or a person, but to the purpose for which you created it. I bind myself to the kingdom thing, the Spirit thing, the thing you have spoken and promised.
Now my intercessions start anew. My worship is invigorated, and my service is filled with spiritual purpose.
5. Luke 18:13 But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner!"
Is this where we get the "bowed head, eyes closed" posture for prayer?
Joh 17:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said...
If anyone knows how to pray, it is Jesus. If there is anyone who is going to have His prayers answered, it is Jesus. The right way to pray is Jesus’ way of praying.
6. James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Some Christians believe in "irresistible grace," that people can do nothing to draw near to God, that he alone does everything. I don't believe that.
7. I want to be careful how I handle your grace.
8. I sometimes wonder how wrong we have gotten you. The Bible is a mere glimpse of you. As wonderful as it is, it is only a partial record.
So we fill in the blanks and wrestle with doctrines and try to figure you out. Too often, we know facts about you but we don't really know you.
Phil 3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings...
This kind of knowing doesn't seem very popular these days.
9. Titus 3:4-5 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
As easy as it is to misunderstand grace (your desire to lean towards us), it's mercy that really boggles my mind.
10. Psalm 103:10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
Repay is gamal, To deal fully or adequately with.
You do not fully deal with us when it comes to our iniquities; that is, you give us mercy rather than death.
Thank you for the cross that set me free
Thank you for the blood that washed me clean
Thank you this life you've given me
Thank you for the cross
Thank you for the cross
11. Psalm 32:6 Therefore let all the godly pray to You while You may be found. Surely when great waters rise, they will not come near.
You can be found. This is such a profound truth. In these days when darkness seems to be everywhere, you can be found. In deepest depression, you can be found. In desperate circumstances, you can be found. When there is no hope, you can be found.
12. Psalm 107:6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; he rescued them from their distress.
Even when there's no trouble, you are attentive to those who seek you.
1. As I meditate on your great sacrifice it seems like I'm missing something very profound about it. How does the blood wash away sin? Was this actually some sort of exchange? How does your death bring life? Is it really true you paid some sort of debt I owed?
Questions aside, I'm freshly amazed that you gave your life for my benefit. This astounding act of love boggles my mind.
2. I am so fortunate you saved me. More fortunate than a billionaire, a pulitzer prize winner, or an elite athlete.
3. Why did you save me ? You answered, why not?
4. When you rose, you didn't stop rising.
5. Your existence is fundamentally mysterious.
6. I am so guilty of underestimating you.
7. Psalm 19:1-2 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
The lost man always has your testimony before his eyes. Creation declares your wonders. In your faithfulness you reveal yourself.
8. Isaiah 9:2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.
The imagery of dark vs. light is fascinating. Ever since you said, "let there be light," light has been your testimony, your dwelling place, your very nature.
9. 40:12 "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the heavens with a span?"
I'm picturing a huge hand with a tiny dot in the middle of the palm. That dot is the universe.
10. Isaiah 40:28 The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
When you rested from creating, it wasn't because you were weary. That's something that grabs my attention.
"Weary" is the Greek word kopiaó. It describes the act of laboring or working to the point of exhaustion.
Opinion: We don't rest because we're weary, we rest because our work is done. There's always more work, but when we rest it is from the work we completed.
We recover from weariness, but we should rest from our work.
Heb. 1:3 ...when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high...
Jesus is seated. At regal rest. He did his work, ascended, and sat down.
11. Sometimes we put our lives in some sort of order, but father usually has a different order. The result may seem like chaos but its really father's work in our lives.
12. If a church service really powerful, it's usually because someone has been preparing the ground with prayer.
13. Isa 40:13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?
Psalm 115:3 Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.
The worship, obedience, and prayers of your people make absolutely no difference, yet make all the difference. They change nothing, but everything does change. You don't change your mind, but you do relent from what you were going to do in order to do something else.
Paradoxes. I love your inscrutable nature!
14. Long brainstorm ahead:
I thought, what should I read? The Lord impressed Philemon on my mind. Hmm. Not exactly a powerful read. Ok, I'll read it.
Philemon 8-9 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love.
Philemon had a slave named Onesimus who became a Christian. Paul wanted them to get back together as brothers and clear up anything they had against each other.
Paul could simply command Philemon, but he chose to use relationship instead.
Philemon 18-19 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self.
Onesimus owed Philemon money, but Philemon owed Paul his life. Because of this, Paul wanted Philemon to forgive Onesimus' debt. "He owes you, but you owe me bigger."
Principle: When I serve or help someone with something, my attitude is not that I'm owed something as a result. Rather, it's that I'm trying to repay them for their love for me.
This is where my thinking leads me: the relationship dynamic of the Body, serving one another without any other currency but sacrificial love. The community of believers meeting each other's every need. No one needing to hire a repairman or going outside the Body for services.
We might not be able to do this in every instance, but we do need to change our thinking.
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