Blessed To Bless Numbers 6:24-26 Ephesians 1:3 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Luke 6:38 Philippians 4:14-19 2 Corinthians 8:6-7 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 02.27.15

            BLESSED TO BLESS

BREAD

24 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”   Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.   Ephesians 1:3 (NIV)

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.   2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV)

38 “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”   Luke 6:38 (NIV)

14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. 17 Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. 18 I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 4:14-19 (NIV)

7 But just as you excel in everything--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us --see that you also excel in this grace of giving.   2 Corinthians 8:6-7 (NIV)

6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.   2 Corinthians 9:6-8 (NIV)

BUTTER

“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”  Amy Carmichael

“The heart that gives, gathers.”  Marianne Moore

“A cheerful giver does not count the cost of what he gives.  His heart is set on pleasing and cheering him to whom the gift is given.”     Julian of Norwich

“Gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”    John Wesley

“Maturity is for ministry! We grow up in order to give out. It is not enough to keep learning more and more. We must act on what we know and practice what we claim to believe. Impression without expression causes depression. Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation. Most of the time we’re more interested in “serve us” than service. We say, “I’m looking for a church that meets my needs and blesses me,” not “I’m looking for a place to serve and be a blessing.” We expect others to serve us, not vice versa. But as we mature in Christ, the focus of our lives should increasingly shift to living a life of service. The mature follower of Jesus stops asking, “Who’s going to meet my needs?” and starts asking, “Whose needs can I meet?”     Rick Warren

“Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received -- only what you have given: a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.”  St. Francis of Assisi

“Take note of what God gives you.  Then you will also know the task He gives you.”   Heinrich Emil Brunner

“Blessed are those who spread joy that arises out of their own suffering.  He who denies himself for others clothes himself with Christ.  Seek one who does not dare approach you.  Give to the one who does not ask.  Love the one who pushes you away.  May my joys never come through the suffering of others.  May my suffering bring some joy to others.”   Prince Vladimir

HEART SAVOR

·       My life is be a conduit through which God’s blessing and grace freely flow.

·       To the one much has been given, much is expected.

·       Knowledge puffs up, love fleshes out.  

The Lord's Lavish Love John 3:16-17 Lamentations 3:21-26 Psalms 103:11-18 Zephaniah 3:17 1 John 4:16 02.25.15

THE LORD’S LAVISH LOVE

BREAD

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

John 3:16-17 (NIV)

21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” 25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Lamentations 3:21-26 (NIV)

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. 17 But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children-- 18 with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

Psalms 103:11-18 (NIV)

17 “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)

16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

1 John 4:16 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Unless Christians are convinced of God’s love for them and His favor over them by virtue of their union with Christ, they will minimize their sin and engage in blame-shifting and excuse- making in order to feel justified before God. Unfortunately, many in the Church today teach believers a two-step. The two-step is to simply repent and fight. They acknowledge their sin and proceed with new resolve to try harder to avoid sin. The problem with this approach is it bypasses the cross of Christ and the power of the resurrection.”   Bob Flayhart

“We must lean into the truth of God’s love displayed in Jesus’ coming. Our fall into depravity and alienation was because our confidence in the kindness and love of God was shaken. We doubted and doubt the love of God. Our recovery must begin with the belief of His love; ‘this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins’ (I Jn. 4:10).”  Dr. Tom Wood

“God’s love is always supernatural, always a miracle, always the last thing we deserve.”   Robert Horn

“Often hell is portrayed as a place of punishment and heaven as a place of reward. But this concept easily leads us to think about God as either a policeman, who tries to catch us when we make a mistake and send us to prison when our mistakes become too big, or a Santa Claus, who counts up all our good deeds and puts a reward in our stocking at the end of the year. God, however, is neither a policeman nor a Santa Claus. God does not send us to heaven or hell depending on how often we obey or disobey. God is love and only love. In God there is no hatred, desire for revenge, or pleasure in seeing us punished. God wants to forgive, heal, restore, show us endless mercy, and see us come home. But just as the father of the prodigal son let his son make his own decision God gives us the freedom to move away from God's love even at the risk of destroying ourselves. Hell is not God's choice. It is ours.”   Henri Nouwen

“For although there is nothing in the world deserving of God’s favor, He nevertheless shows He is favorable to the whole world when He calls all without exception to the faith of Christ, which is indeed an entry in to life.”   John Calvin 

“They who love God with all their hearts, find that His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace.”   Charles H. Spurgeon  

“Only he who has experienced it can believe what the love of Jesus Christ is.”   Bernard of Clairvaux

HEART SAVOR

• ·       Jesus loves me this I know.
• ·       Christ’s love gives me hope – His compassions never fail – they are new every morning.
• ·       I can know and rely on God’s love.

The Sin Within Jeremiah 17:9-10 Romans 7:21-25 Romans 3:23-26 Galatians 5:16-18 Colossians 3:5-10 Galatians 2:20-21 02.23.15

THE SIN WITHIN

BREAD

9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”

Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NIV)

21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Romans 7:21-25 (NIV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:23-26 (NIV)

16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

Galatians 5:16-18 (NIV)

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Colossians 3:5-10 (NIV)

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

Galatians 2:20-21 (NIV)

BUTTER

In Surprised By Joy, C.S. Lewis paints a vivid description of what he found when he examined his own heart:  “A zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears and a harem of fondled hatreds.” 

“We are able to think, choose, create, love and worship; but we are also able to hate, covet, fight and kill.   Human beings are the inventors of hospitals for the care of the sick, of universities for the acquisition of wisdom, and of churches for the worship of God.  But they have also invented torture chambers, concentration camps, and nuclear arsenals.  This is the paradox of our humanness.  We are both noble and ignoble, both rational and irrational, both moral and immoral, both creative and destructive, both loving and selfish, both Godlike and bestial.”   John Stott

“Sin is real rebellion against the good Creator of all things and the final judge of all people….In the end, we are all guilty of rebellion against God.  Not just the pimp in northern Nepal, but you and me.  All of us have turned from God, all of us are guilty before God, and all of us know it.  We feel this guilt, and although we inevitable deny it, we instinctively experience it…Yet guilt remains.  No matter how hard we try, we can’t successfully erase the sense of ‘ought’ that God has written on the human soul.  One need only look in the eyes of a little girl being sold into sex slavery to know that this ‘ought’ not to be, for right and wrong do exist as objective standards for all people in all places at all times.  We cannot remove the reality of guilt before God, and this is why we need Jesus.”       David Platt

“No man can put Jesus Christ to greater shame than by professing the gospel without showing the power of it.  There can be no more vile and sordid hypocrisy than for any to pretend unto inward, habitual sanctification, while their lives are barren in the fruits of righteousness and obedience.”   K. H. Von Bogatzky

HEART SAVOR

·       Every day I am given the choice to come under the authority of God through the indwelling Holy Spirit’s power which always leads me to ultimate victory or choose my fleshly own way which will always lead to defeat, destruction and ultimate death.  Every sin carries with it a death sentence in one way or the other – don’t be fooled.

·       I am to put to death whatever belongs to my fleshly nature.  It is not my friend.

·       I am given the power of the Holy Spirit through my faith in Christ to live abundantly, receiving all God intended for me this side of heaven and resting in His good and pleasing and perfect will.  I am the loser if I follow my own wanting flesh.  

Truth For Life Deuteronomy 32:45-47 2 Timothy 3:14-17 2 Peter 1:19-21 Psalms 119:105 Psalms 119:160 Psalms 119:165 02.20.15

TRUTH FOR LIFE

BREAD

45 When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. 47 They are not just idle words for you--they are your life.”

Deuteronomy 32:45-47 (NIV)

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:14-17 (NIV)

19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:19-21 (NIV)

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

Psalms 119:105 (NIV)

160 All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.

Psalms 119:160 (NIV)

165 Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.

Psalms 119:165 (NIV)

BUTTER

“We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in His Word, He intended to be conspicuous in our lives.”  Charles Spurgeon

“Beware of reasoning about God's Word - obey It.”  Oswald Chambers

“If you wish to know God, you must know his Word.  If you wish to perceive His power,
you must see how He works by his Word. If you wish to know His purpose before it comes to pass, you can only discover it by His Word.”  C.H. Spurgeon

“Christ’s words are of permanent value because of His person; they endure because He endures.”  W. H. Griffith Thomas

“What is more elevating and transporting than the generosity of heart which risks everything on God’s Word?”    John Henry Newman

“The rabbis spoke of the text being like a gem with seventy faces, and each time you turn the gem, the light refracts differently, giving you a reflection you haven’t seen before.  And so we turn the text again and again because we keep seeing things we missed before.  When you embrace the text as living and active, when you enter its story, when you keep turning the gem, you never come to the end.  Inspired words have a way of getting under our skin and taking on a life of their own.  They work on us.  We started out reading them, but they end up reading us.”   Rob Bell  

“The words of God which you receive by your ear, hold fast in your heart; for the Word of God is the food of the soul.”   Gregory I

“If you want to walk in the light of Truth, having the knowledge and wisdom of God, make a commitment to read and to study His Word; which is ‘a lamp to our feet.’…. In our journey with God, walking in His Truth must be the standard by which we live. It is in God's Word that we find His Truth. And if we trust Him and His Word, we will be people who not only hear His Truths but who incorporate them into who we are.” Michael Youssef

HEART SAVOR

·       God’s Word is not to be merely idle words for me – simple words on a page – His Word is to be my life.

·       God’s Word is Truth and can be trusted.

·       God’s Word is eternal, standing firm in the heavens.   

Brightest Light Matthew 4:16 John 1:3-5 John 1:9 Psalms 27:1 1 Peter 2:9 1 John 1:5-7 02.18.15

BRIGHTEST LIGHT

BREAD

16 “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

Matthew 4:16 (NIV)

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

John 1:3-5 (NIV)

9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

John 1:9 (NIV)

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear?

Psalms 27:1 (NIV)

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 1:5-7 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes, Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.  Unresting, unhasting and silent as light, Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might; Thy justice like mountains high soaring above Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.”   Walter C. Smith

“To follow the Savior is to participate in salvation; to follow the light is to perceive the light.”   Irenaeus

“I keep trying to find a life, on my own apart from You.  I am the king of excuses, I’ve got one for every selfish thing I do.  What’s going on inside of me?  I despise my own behavior.  This only serves to confirm my suspicions that I’m still a man in need of a savior...O Lord be my Light and my Salvation.  The disease of the self runs through my blood, like cancer fatal to the soul.  Every attempt on my behalf has failed, to keep the sickness under control…Lord be my Light and be my salvation.”   Charlie Peacock

“The things of the earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”   Helen H. Lemmel

“When a person sees the excellence of the gospel, he senses the beauty and loveliness of the divine scheme of salvation.  His mind is convinced that it is of God, and he believes it with all his heart.  The light of the gospel is the glory of Christ, his holiness and beauty.  Clearly, it is this divine light, shining into our hearts, that enables us to see the beauty of the gospel and have a saving belief in Christ.  This supernatural light shows us the superlative beauty and loveliness of Jesus, and convinces us of His sufficiency as our Saviour.  Only such a glorious, majestic Saviour can be our Mediator, standing between guilty, hell-deserving sinners such as ourselves, and an infinitely holy God.  This supernatural light gives us a sense of Christ that convinces us in a way nothing else ever could.”  Jonathan Edwards

“The most brilliant way to live is to always look for the light.”   Ann Voskamp

“In darkness there is no choice.  It is light that enables us to see the differences between things; and it is Christ who gives us light.”   Augustus W. Hare

“In Christ’s first sermon at Nazareth He said that one of the reasons He had come to earth was to preach ‘recovery of sight to the blind’ (Luke 4:18)…The Spirit of God helps us see our sin and our helplessness and shows us God’s redeeming grace in Christ.  The Spirit reveals the truth of Jesus’ declaration:  ‘I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life’ (John 8:12)…In the midst of a world living in spiritual darkness, walk as a child of the light!”   Billy Graham

HEART SAVOR

·       I am blind to my sin without the light of Christ.

·       Without Him, I walk in darkness – with Him I walk in the Light of life.

·       I am to walk as a child of the Light.   

R.E.A.L. Rest Matthew 11:28-30 Exodus 33:14 Psalms 62:1-2 Psalms 91:1 Jeremiah 6:16 Deuteronomy 33:12 Isaiah 26:3 02.16.15

R.E.A.L. REST

BREAD

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Exodus 33:14 (NIV)

1 My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Psalms 62:1-2 (NIV)

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalms 91:1 (NIV)

16 This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)

“Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.”

Deuteronomy 33:12 (NIV)

3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

Isaiah 26:3 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Thou hast made us for Thyself, and the heart of man is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.”   Augustine

“Knowing that we are fulfilling God’s purpose is the only thing that really gives rest to the restless human heart.”   Chuck Colson

“This invitation to walk with God is an invitation to humility.  It’s an invitation to rest from the struggle to look like you’ve got it all together.  It’s an invitation to lay aside the burden of always having to be right.  This is an invitation to be who you are – warts and all – without excuse, or apology, or feeling like you have to live up to someone’s standard in order to be loved or respected.  It’s an invitation to cease the futile struggle to earn respectability and to enter God’s rest.”  Chuck Swindoll

“God is God.  Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience.  I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.”   Elisabeth Elliot

“All the commandments of God are commandments of love tending to our real good and great happiness; far from being grievous to those who have faith and love, the practice thereof is life and peace.   The world may think it a grievous burden; but this is a great mistake indeed.  Sin is grievous.  In hatred, envy, anger, revenge, pride, there is nothing but torment and slavery; but in love there is a sweet rest and pleasure.  Thus a sinner always punishes himself, and is robbed of great peace and blessing, by transgressing the commandments of God.”   K. H. Von Bogatzky

“We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul.  If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by ‘looking unto Jesus’.  Keep thine eye simply on Him; let His death, His sufferings, His merits, His glories, His intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to Him; when thou liest down at night look to Him.  Oh!  Let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after Him, and He will never fail thee.”     C. H. Spurgeon

“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.  Do not lose your inward peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.  Commend all to God, and then lie still and be at rest in His bosom.  Whatever happens, abide steadfast in a determination to cling simply to God……Maintain a holy simplicity of mind, and do not smother yourself with a host of cares, wishes, or longings, under any pretext.”     St. Francis de Sales 

HEART SAVOR

·       True rest is found in Christ alone.

·       Christ is my burden bearer, my soul saver, my perfect peace.

·       In His Presence is perfect peace.  He is the Oasis in my busyness.