Our goal, as a church family, is that we would all be OUTRAGEOUSLY LOVING people who PASSIONATELY PURSUE the Lord with IRRATIONALLY GIVING lifestyles as we CONSISTENTLY SUBMIT to God’s desires and EFFECTIVELY DISCIPLE others to do the same.
What does it mean to: PASSIONATELY PURSUE the heart of God?
The Center for Bible Engagement polled more than 400k people from ages 8-80 examining how often they read their Bibles. Their goal was to discover frequency but they realized they were discovering so much more. They began exploring the different degrees of impact reading your Bible has in your life depending on how often you do so.
Reading your Bible once a week, which includes coming to church where your Bible is read to you, has a negligible affect on lifestyle and behavior. The same for two times a week. The person who engages in Scripture personally three times a week shows a blip on the map but nothing major. However, the person who is in the Word of God four times a week spikes off the chart!
Anger issues drop 32%
Feeling lonely drops 30%
Bitterness in relationships, marriage, kids, drops 40%
Alcoholism drops 57%
Feeling spiritually stagnant drops 60%
Viewing porn drops 61%
228% more likely to share faith
Christians who do not engage in the Bible most days of the week are statistically the same as non-believers.
This is about purposing to understand God’s priorities learning to make them our own. Is it possible that with God we are making minimal deposits expecting maximum withdrawals?
This is a great verse of Scripture that so many Christians so commonly quote and rightfully so. What a great promise!
Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn….
A closer look at the context of this verse makes it even richer! Just a few verses before the declaration that no weapon formed against us will prosper is the declaration that God, himself, will teach our children:
Isa 54:13-15 All your children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their peace. 14 In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. 15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you. NIV
Looking at these promises in context also reveals something most people simply neglect when quoting the common verse 17. I’ve never heard anybody finish the verse when quoting it but the conclusion of the verse reveals something very significant.
Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me," declares the LORD. NAS
There seems to be a clear indication here that these amazing promises come to those who serve God’s purposes. It’s easy to focus on the sacrifice of Jesus and the price he paid for us while we miss the sacrifice God asks from us.
Is Jesus truly Lord of our lives? If Jesus had our life for one year living in your home, spending money in your bank account, driving your car, working at your job, what would your life look like? Imagine it is one year after Jesus had full control and now he’s giving it all back to you how different would it look? If he truly is Lord of your life why would it look different at all?
We will have conversations 10,000 years from now discussing the eternal priorities of God. Perhaps the conversation will be something like this. “Which generation did you serve?” “2020 Generation” “Wow! Which territory?” “USA.” “Wow!!! You served God at a pivotal time in the wealthiest territory on earth!” “I Know! Loved sports! I had a really nice house and a really cool car. I even wore Calvin Klein designer underwear!”
Corrie Ten Boom and others who lived such sacrificial lives would just be standing there looking at you. I imagine Peter saying something like, “And I was crucified upside down to hand the baton of our faith off to you?”
“Well I just had so much debt I really couldn’t afford a sacrificial lifestyle. I would have tithed and done more - Jesus is Lord and all that stuff but you know.”
The truth is our patterns reveal our priorities. Let’s passionately pursue God as a church family leaving the world a better place as we sacrificially serve the purposes of God in our generation!
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Our goal, as a church family, is that we would all be OUTRAGEOUSLY LOVING people who PASSIONATELY PURSUE the Lord with IRRATIONALLY GIVING lifestyles as we CONSISTENTLY SUBMIT to God’s desires and EFFECTIVELY DISCIPLE others to do the same.
This requires that we put into practice a personal pursuit of God. This year in our Community Groups we want to start each group with the first and primary question of Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God? This will help us as a church family to explore with expectation how conversations are becoming confirmations that God is speaking to us all.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?
2. What are some things you really wanted in life that you had to work sacrificially to accomplish or acquire?
The Bible explains men and women of faith as farmers, athletes and soldiers. All three require sacrifice, intentional preparation and purposeful advancement.
Dr. King said, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... there must be sacrifice, suffering, struggle, passion and dedication.”
None of us were not born for your pleasure. All of us were born for God’s Purposes.
John 6:44 Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them” NIV
It is God who draws us to Himself and then our response determines his reach.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
3. What are some ways you are purposing to draw closer to God in this season of your life personally?
4. What is one way you can be more intentional about a sacrificial life in regard to the God-given mission of our church family?
Conclude by praying as a group asking God to take us all to another level of passion for him. Consider praying through these verses as you pray. You could consider asking four different people to volunteer to pray according to these four different verses:
Luke 9:34 “…they became deeply aware of God.” MSG
Ps 63:1-6 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water… 6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. NLT
Ps 84:1-2,10 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. NIV
Ps 42:1-2 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? NIV