Led by Mark Zehnder
Notes from Friday night
- Our view of God is often our view of our earthly father. This might (or might not) explain why God is: distant, cruel, and unloving to you. God is none of these things. God is not your earthly father, He is: loving, just, interested, always with you.
- If your relationship with your father is holding you back from your relationship with God, seek reconciliation with your father. Ask God to help you with this.
- John 6:28-29. After Jesus performed the miracle of the feeding of the 5000, he walked across water ahead of His disciples in the boat. The crowd found out where He was and flocked to Him again. Jesus said that they didn’t come to Him to seek any truth, but to be fed again. Food spoils, but heavenly food won’t. The crowd asked “what must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” We cannot work our way to heaven by means of various tasks, we have a singular task to believe Jesus, and do as He asks.
- You cannot be good enough for God. God loves you no matter what. You cannot be bad enough for God to lose His love for you. Basically, you cannot, in any way, change the love God has for you. He will be disappointed when you sin, and you may be punished, but God does this out of love, not cruelty. God will rejoice in your accomplishments, but that’s because He loves you.
- Zeph 3:17. God loves you so much that he sings and dances over you!
- God is active. Heb 13:8 says that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We have no problem with the historical Jesus. We have no problem with the Jesus of Revelations. We often have a problem realizing that Jesus is present now, and does the miraculous now, and cares for us now, and wants a relationship with us now.
- Get into the lap of your heavenly father. No kid is going to shy away from a loving father when he wants something. We shouldn’t either. ASK whatever you want. Even selfish prayers. God wants your communication. And, you have not because you have not. Don’t forget to ask God for anything and everything. He loves you and will give you the good things He feels you need.
(Sharon Zehnder’s) Notes from Saturday Morning
- Men – be the spiritual head of your household! It’s ordained in the Bible, and your wife will love you for it.
- Women are often more spiritually mature than men. They will try to push their men into this spiritual role as head of the household, but men will run the other direction.
- Some men relegate this spiritual role to their wife – Don’t do this! Eph 5:23 says it’s your role.
- One question the spiritual head of the household should ask is: “What do we want as our four core family values?” Is it “love without criticism,” or “honesty” or “higher education for our children?” List them, then put Bible verses to them, then post them in your house. At our house, we went down to a trophy store and had our core family values put on a plaque. When our son got married, we made a plaque for him as a wedding present.
- The top two problems in marriage are communication and finances. Work on communication! (and finances). Get counseling if you need it. Give each other permission to say: “I’m not being appreciated,” or “I just want you to listen – don’t fix my problem,” or “I really want your advice on this – don’t just sit there and listen.”
Notes from Saturday Morning
Before the “Five Love Languages” books came out, Mark wrote a series of sermons on what he had identified as seven languages of love spoken today:
Touchers (Physical Touch)
Talkers (Words of Affirmation, verbal processors)
Servers (Acts of Service)
Gift Givers (Giving Gifts)
Providers (Men who work to provide for their families, or so that their wives don’t have to work)
Opportunity Providers (people who plan events and situations for others to step-out, succeed or thrive)
Time Takers (Quality Time)
God is all of these – which ones are you, your spouse, your kids?
Notes from Saturday Night
Men in the workplace – how to be effective witnesses at work.
Eph 2:8-10. Most people stop at verse 9. It is important to note that God wants us to work (witness) because He has already set up opportunities for you to do so.
Eph 4:11-12 Work in the manner God made you – not as you think an evangelist should.
Eva – bring
Angel – Messenger (of good news)
Ist – to be in the business of
Evangelist – being in the business of bringing the good news
1Cor 3:10 God has already set the foundation
Col 3:23-24 Always work as though you were working for the Lord.
How to work in the world:
Insulation: John 17:11-19
- Do not imitate the world
- Do not avoid it either
- Be insulated by God’s Word
Influence: Matt5:13-16
- You are salt and light
- You are a person of influence
- Don’t be afraid to witness – be bold
Intentional: Col 4:5-6
- Be good and wise in dealing with non-Christians
How to be effective at your workplace:
- Say “blessed” instead of “lucky” when someone asks “how did you do that so well?”
- Be above reproach – be a man of honesty and integrity
- In witnessing, you don’t need all the answers; you don’t need passages of scripture memorized – you need your personal testimony of what God is doing in your life
- Pray for an opportunity to share – ask God to show you the person He wants you to talk to. Be intentional in prayer.
Notes from Sunday Morning Q & A
Can you imagine – it’s dawn – Peter wakes up and sees Jesus praying off in the distance. Peter says “We’re about the Kingdom of God today. Let’s Go! Jesus can catch up later.”
When you are about the work of the Kingdom of God, consult Jesus first and wait for Him. Don’t go off blindly. Pray, wait, act in power and proper direction when God says “go.”
Approach God in prayer as a child would approach his father – bold; asking anything, and expecting an answer in love. After all, what father doesn’t want to give his kid good things?
Sin separates us from God, and may make our prayers ineffective. A man who is right with God (through repentance, forgiveness, the forgiveness of others) can have effective prayer.
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