Archive for May 2008

Ready or Not

May 25, 2008 by PastorMark.

Play now#312, Ready or Not, Pastor Mark Boucher, Sunday 05-25-2008

Text: Joshua 1:1-9
Theme: With God’s help I can change.

INTRODUCTION:

The story of Henry Ford: Change is inevitable, growth is optional.

  1. God spoke to a man named Joshua.
    1. “Moses my servant is dead.” Joshua 1:2
    2. Life for Joshua and the Israelites would change.
    3. Moses was the dominant person in 4 of the 5 first books.
    4. Moses died, but God’s plan did not die with Moses.
    5. God’s next word to Joshua was …
    6. “Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River.” Joshua 1:2
    7. How are we to “get ready” for change?
    8. (God did not give Joshua a detailed plan. First He spoke to his heart.)
  2. Readiness begins by how we perceive change (attitude).
    1. We don’t feel an urgency to change.
    2. We can try to refuse to change.

God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to let us stay that way.
Theme: With God’s help I can change.
Text: Joshua 1:1-9

  1. Don’t let the past prevent you from change. (The past is important. Learn from it, don’t live in it.)
    1. The desert wanderings were all they knew for 40 years.
    2. Life would be very different from what they knew.
    3. No Moses / There would be:
    4. No cloud, fire / Battles to fight
    5. No manna / Land to divide
    6. No large group / Temptations to overcome
    7. But also …
    8. No wandering / Great opportunities
    9. No discipline / Multiplied blessings
    10. Joshua could have been “stuck in park.”
    11. “I was always Moses’ assistant, his aide.”
    12. “I’ve already been in a battle or two … and won.” (he would have been older than almost all the others.)
    13. Philippians 3:12b-13 “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.”
  2. Anticipate the future with faith. (With God’s help I can change.)
    1. After God said, “get ready”, He filled Joshua’s future outlook with promises (vv 3-5).
    2. “I will give you every place you set your foot.” (v 3)
    3. “I will give you extended territory.” (v 4)
    4. “I will give you my abiding presence.” (v 5)
    5. “No one will be able to stand up against you …”
    6. Will we believe God or our fears?
    7. Joshua could have filled his mind with doubts. (What if … I fail, the people lose confidence, our enemies get together … ?)
    8. But what about right now?
  3. Receive strength and courage from God now. (vv 6-9)
    1. God commands strength and courage three times
    2. How do we receive strength and courage?
    3. You make up your mind you’re going to obey God.
    4. “Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave to you.” (v 7)
    5. Obedience in the present prepares you for a great change in the future
    6. Joshua, as one of the 12 spies, obeyed God by being positive about the promised land. Because Joshua obeyed God, he lived to change the future.
    7. You receive strength and courage from His Word.
    8. The Word is to be in our mouth. (v 8 )
    9. The Word is to be in our mind. (v 8 b)
    10. You receive strength and courage now by believing that God wants the best for you.
    11. “that you may be successful wherever you go.” (v 7 b)
    12. “then you will be prosperous and successful.” (v 8 b)

CONCLUSION:

There is a promised land. There is a desert. You can be a believer in both.
Thrive? Or just survive?

My heart: to let Christi change me from the inside out … to lead us into lives of:

  1. being true disciples
  2. making true disciples of others

What is the one thing God is saying to change?

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God’s Will; My Life

May 18, 2008 by PastorDave.

Play now #311, God’s Will; My Life, Pastor David McIntosh, Sunday 05-18-2008

Text: Hebrews 13:20, 21

INTRODUCTION:

  • It was the summer 1984, I was sitting in the office of a guidance counselor at the University of Massachusetts and we were figuring out my fall classes.
  • The guidance counselor asked me my major and one word came out of my mouth: UNDECIDED. (In other words I don’t know)
  • One of the most painful questions you can ask a teenager is, “What do you plan to do with your life?” (emotions of excitement, fear, overwhelmed come to their heart as they say, I don’t know)
  • Today we are going to motivate, encourage, and exhort you to seek with all of your heart God’s perfect will for your life. Why did God created you?

AWESOME TRUTH: Every person is created first in the heart of God to do great works for God and then is formed in the womb by God to carry out these great works!

  • Jeremiah 1:5 – “Before I formed the in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee…”
  • KNEW = expression of intimate knowledge, husband knows his wife.
  • God chose (his heart) the great works that you would do, and then He designed you in the womb with exactly the right characteristics & capabilities to achieve those great works.
  • Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

HOW DO I DISCOVER WHAT GOD CREATED ME TO DO?

What is God’s will for my life!?

  1. God’s specific will is discovered INSIDE His revealed will
    1. The Word of God is Jesus Christ’s revealed will for everybody ever born!
    2. Jesus said, “It is written, Man shall not lie by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4)
    3. The Bible is filled with God’s principles, thoughts, ideas, truths, blessings, rewards, warnings and ways!
    4. Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
    5. Romans 13: 1, 2 – “The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authorities is rebelling against God.”
    6. 2 Timothy 3:12 – “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
    7. Ephesian 6:2, 3 – “Honor your father and mother-which is the first commandment with a promise- that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
    8. 1 Peter 3:7 – Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
    9. In seeking God’s will for your life, the place everyone begins is inside His revealed will, are there ideas in your mind & choices in your life that are not in harmony with God’s revealed will? If so you will never really discover God’s specific, perfect will for your life!
  2. Our minds must be transformed
    1. Romans 12:2 – “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
    2. God’s plan for you will not be discovered from the pattern of this world.
    3. 2 Corinthians 10: 4, 5 – “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
    4. If you do not transform your thinking you will not be able to discover God’s perfect purpose for your life.
    5. Transformation comes when information changes behavior and the one changed can explain what has happened to them.
    6. Too many “saved” people still live their lives according the pattern the world has taught them.
    7. Personal testimony: Here is what has & is happening in my life because of transformed and renewed thinking (one income family, debt free living, homeschooling, more than 1.8 children by God’s grace,)
  3. Go Beyond Commitment
    1. Read Matthew 19:16-22
    2. Jesus asked in V.21, “If you want to be perfect…sell…give. Then come follow me.” (the rich young ruler went away sad)
    3. He was willing to make commitments and follow rules, but he was unwilling to make a total unconditional surrender of his life and all he had to Jesus.
    4. Commitments are based on our control & our conditions. Total, unconditional surrender is based on God’s control.
    5. We often make commitments to the Lord but can not sustain them because we have not yet totally surrendered our life to the Lord.
    6. Jesus didn’t say the Rich Young Ruler would be starving and poor, but the rich young ruler would not be in control, he would have to rely on the Lord.
    7. It is only through total surrender that we will discover God’s perfect plan for our lives!
  4. Past the Holy Spirit Tests
    1. The Holy Spirit will test you and on the other side of the test is where you will find God’s perfect plan for your life.
    2. Luke 5:4-10 Read it
    3. Jesus asked Peter to go fishing, Peter had been fishing all night and caught nothing and they never fish in the day because you will catch nothing.
    4. V. 5 – “Because you say so I will let down the nets.” (the test)
    5. V. 8 & 9 – Peter saw himself from a new perspective and his relationship with Jesus from a different perspective and in V. 10 he received his life purpose call from Jesus.
    6. It didn’t make natural sense for Peter to go fishing, but he did it only because Jesus told him to (obeyed revealed will, transformed thinking, total surrender, past the test)

CLOSE:

  1. Every person is created first in the heart of God to do great works for God and then is formed in the womb by God to carry out these great works!
  2. Someone once said that God’s perfect will for my life is exactly what I would want to do if I had all the facts from God.
  3. Maybe you are resisting His revealed will, or you are making life decisions based on the pattern of this world, or you are committed but scared to surrender, or you just can’t see that certain things in your life are not the devil but the tests of the Holy Spirit.
  4. Altar Call: Feel you are not living in God’s perfect plan and you want to surrender yourself to Jesus come now!

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Lasting Relationships

May 11, 2008 by PastorMark.

Play now #310, Lasting Relationships, Pastor Mark Boucher, Sunday, 05-11-2008

Text: Ephesians 5:25-33
Theme: Love your wife as Christ loves the church … you.

INTRODUCTION:

  1. I didn’t really notice it until looking back and considering.
    1. My mother gave so much of herself.
    2. Sometimes she got tired and discouraged.
  2. What can we do to help and bless these women?
    1. I want to proceed along the husband/wife relationship.
    2. Some of you are unmarried, single parents, divorced or separated by death.
  3. The Bible gives us God’s wisdom concerning relationships.
    1. Paul addresses family relationships and starts with the most important (husband and wife).
    2. In Ephesians, Paul addresses husbands twice as much as the wife.

Text: Ephesians 5:25-33
The repeated pronouncement of Paul to the husbands is “love your wife.
How do we do this? We’re so different.
Theme: Love your wife as Christ loves the church … you.

HOW DOES CHRIST TREAT US THE CHURCH AND APPLY THIS TO OUR RELATIONSHIP.

  1. Jesus gives Himself to us.

a. “God built a bridge with two board and a nail.” –a sign

b. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (v25)

c. *If you have to insist on your own way, you’re not ready for marriage.

d. Jesus gives of Himself for the building up of His church.

e. Agape love does what helps the other.

f. He provides for us in every way without spoiling us.

  1. Jesus listens to us.

a. He ever lives to make intercession for us.

b. He hears our prayers and invites us into deeper fellowship.

c. As husbands we need to work at listening.

d. Sometimes, I am preoccupied, but when I listen I benefit from her prospective.

e. Survey of the five major needs of women:

f. Affection

g. Conversation

h. Honesty/Openness

i. Financial Support

j. Family Commitment

k. * This can be difficult because of differences in verbal abilities/

  1. Jesus forgives us.

a. “We all stumble in many ways.” James 3:2

b. It is easy to focus on, “how she needs to change.”

c. Conflict management, resolution, and transformation are huge issues in a marriage.

d. Jesus overlooks and forgives.

e. Our faults in the light of God are so much greater than our wife’s faults in comparison.

f. A good marriage is made up of two good forgivers.

  1. Jesus remains faithful to us.

a. He will always be faithful.

b. “If we are faithless, he will remain faithful for he cannot disown himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13

c. Faithfulness to our wife reveals our heart to God.

d. We want to be faithful, not just to the vow, but to the person.

e. *Faithfulness to God is not just to the Word, but to Himself.

f. We don’t even talk about divorce.

CONCLUSION:

  1. God has mirrors, not for Himself but for us.
    1. People can’t see God directly, but we are to reflect Him.
    2. Our marriage can reflect the glory of God. Don’t distort His image by breaking it up.

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How’s Your Vision

May 4, 2008 by PastorMark.

Play now #308, How’s Your Vision, Pastor Mark Boucher, Sunday 05-04-2008

Text: John 4:27-38
Theme: There are great opportunities right in front of us, if we see them.

INTRODUCTION:

  1. The eyes – you see through them without seeing them.
    1. This is like our world view … We have a world view, but we’re often not aware of our “bias”, slant.
    2. We all wear glasses, a lens through which we perceive the world.
    3. We are wearing “blinders” and we need to admit our need …
    4. “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” John 9:41
  2. After being born again, did I see everything perfectly?
    1. A baby’s vision is blurry
    2. After years of walking with Jesus, I still stumble. I miss opportunities and reflect back, “why didn’t I see that?”
  3. Jesus and His disciples were on their way to Galilee.
    1. They went thru Samaria and came to a well at Sychar. (John 4:5)
    2. The disciples went to town to buy food.

Text: John 4:27-38
How Jesus sees this event at the well and how the disciples see it are very different.
Are we open to corrective vision?
Are we willing to see present circumstances the way Jesus sees them?
Theme: There are great opportunities right in front of us, if we see them.

LET’S LOOK AT THESE “VISION OPPORTUNITIES”

  1. The opportunity for sowing (vv27-30)
    1. Sowing is an agricultural action which Jesus uses for spiritual insight.
    2. How we live each day is like sowing seeds.
    3. We often miss opportunities because we don’t see them.
    4. The disciples came back and noticed Jesus and this woman talking.
    5. The disciples saw a woman. (strike one)
    6. The disciples saw a Samaritan. (strike two)
    7. The disciples didn’t know her past issues (or it would have been strike three)
    8. Jesus saw through the eyes of God.
    9. He saw her as a person loved by God.
    10. He saw her as thirsting for truth, life.
    11. How do you see people?
    12. *example: do you see people with dark glasses, or with yellow glasses?
  2. The opportunity for growing (vv31-34)
    1. The disciples had their “mission”: go get food, go back to Jesus, eat.
    2. To the disciples the time talking to the woman was irrelevant.
    3. The disciples urged Jesus to eat.
    4. His response: “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
    5. Jesus saw satisfaction and fulfillment in doing God’s will.
    6. “‘My food,’ said Jesus ‘is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.’” John 4:34
    7. *What do you see as the most important things in life?
    8. *Biological necessities are trumped by spiritual obedience.
  3. The opportunities for harvesting. (vv35-38)
    1. A crowd was coming back to the well.
    2. The woman had gone around witnessing.
    3. They were coming across the field.
    4. Jesus said, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” John 4:35
    5. The disciples only saw the physical harvest.
    6. Four more months before the harvest.
    7. They saw later, Jesus saw now.
    8. See the opportunities right in front of you.
    9. There are hurting, lonely, disillusioned people.
    10. There are people who have everything but purpose and true joy.
    11. The Lord will send them across your path and send you to them. Will you see them?

CONCLUSION:

  1. Because of the woman, many came to believe in Jesus. (John 4:41-42)
    1. Do you see through the lens of Jesus?
    2. Are you keeping your glasses clean?

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