Life on Loan: Your Life Counts - 2 Corinthians 5:17

Jacob wanted to be someone else. He was jealous of what his brother had and what he was going to get. Sound familiar? In today's world we are constantly told what we should want and what we should try to be. But what about what God wants us to be? He created us as individuals with specific talents, faults, friends and connections to serve Him. Plus, he gave us a new life in His son, one fraught with benefits that enable us to make the most of the life God loaned us.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come! - 2 Corinthians 5:17

As a new creation in Jesus, YOU Are:

• A Child of God - John 1:12
  
• A Friend of God - John 15:15
  
• Forgiven - Psalm 103:2-3
• Loved - John 3:16
• NEEDED - Matthew 9:35-38

We LIVE in the harvest field. God put us there because He needs us there.

Are You Ready for Monday? - Colossians 4:2-6

Why do you attend the church you attend? Chances are that at some point someone you already had a relationship with invited you. This is the way that an overwhelmingly large majority of church attenders first came to church and it is the way that most people who are not Christians will become Christians. Before He was taken up to heaven, Jesus gave us the job of creating disciples in all the world. This process doesn't start on Sundays. It starts on Mondays, when we go back out into the world and create relationships with others, giving them a fleshly, personal link to God.

• Prepare a Plan
• "...he had compassion on them..." - Matthew 9:36
  
• Pray, Pray, Pray
• "Devote yourselves to prayer..." - Colossians 4:2
  
• Personal Petition
• "...make the most of every oppoortunity" - Colossians 4:5

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. - 1 Corinthians 3:6-7

Are You Ready for Sunday? - Romans 12:1

What do you do to get ready for church on Sunday? What should you do? If we look at the reasons for having a regular church service, it becomes clear that we have a lot to do before we come to church - and I'm not talking about your hair or your make-up. We have to prepare our hearts, minds and most importantly our attitudes before we even think about worshiping God and fellowshipping with our brothers and sisters.

• It's NOT about ME!
• "Offer your bodies as living sacrifices...this is your spiritual act of worship." - Romans 12:1
• It IS about HIM
• "God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached..." - 1 Corinthians 1:21
• It IS about THEM
• "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost." - Luke 19:10

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" - Matthew 22:37-39

(Re)Build: Stronger - Ezra 9-10

When a fault is found in the foundation of a building project, work is immediately stopped and the problem is removed. When sin appears in our lives we tend to not do the same thing. We go on living, trying our best to pretend that nothing has happened. If this goes on too long we lose our hatred of sin, we cease to be aware of its damaging effects and we wonder what could have caused the problems in our lives. When the Israelites returned from exile to rebuild the Temple, they knew they had to get rid of the sin in their midst that had been plaguing them for generations. If we are to rebuild our relationships with God, we must rid ourselves of the sin that has weakened that relationship in the past. It is not enough just to rebuild, we must ReBuild Stronger than before.

• Confront
• Contrite - Isaiah 66:2b
  
• Appalled at our sin - Ezra 9:3-4
  
• Bothered by its impact - 9:7
  
• Concerned for a future with sin - 9:14
  
• Confess - 1 John 1:9
  
• Admit we did wrong - 10:2
  
• Blame only ourselves -
  
• Call on God for Forgiveness
  
• Control - Hebrews 10:22
  
• Actions - 10:3
  
• Conscience
• Bow to God as Lord
  

(Re)Build: Despite the Opposition - Ezra 4-6

There is something sad about an unfinished building. So much promise and hard work that will never reach its full potential. Does God feel the same way looking at our lives? What gets in the way of our efforts to build a relationship with God? What can we do to overcome these obstacles? And why are they there in the first place?

• Opposition
• Comes looking for us - Ezra 4:1-4
• Can hinder us, but not stop us - Ezra 4:5, 24
• Building Despite Opposition
• God's Word and God's People - Ezra 5:1-2
• Always Do the Right Thing - Ezra 5:8-10
• Opposition Becomes Opportunity - Ezra 6:8-10
• James 1:2 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds...
  

(Re)Build: From the Ground Up - Ezra 3

Did you ever feel like you work and work, but never get anywhere? You do the right things, but the person doing the wrong things is the one who prospers. You try to pray, but it seems useless. If you've felt this way, you aren't alone. This is something that happens in the lives of many (all) Christians. It happens when we neglect our foundation. Over time, our Biblical, God-centered basis can develop cracks where sin pushes its way in and deteriorates what God has built. Patching this isn't the solution. We need to rebuild, from the ground up - putting God first and obeying Him, despite the cost.

• Recognize what is broken - Haggai 1:6 ...You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it...
  
• Restructure your foundation
• Worship First - Ezra 3:2 ...began to build the altar and sacrifice offerings on it...
  
• Build Despite Fear - Ezra 3:3 ...despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built...
  
• Rejoice in what God is Beginning - Ezra 3:11 ...with praise and thanksgiving they sang...
  
• God Only Upgrades! - Ezra 3:12 ...many who had seen the former temple wept...
  

The Rest of the Story - Hebrews 11

We all fall. We all fail. We all sin. We all hate to recognize it, talk about it, admit it. We feel a strong need to be perfect, even though its not possible. We want to be perfect and we try to make the heroes of our stories perfect as well. We talk about their successes and victories, but never learn from their struggles. When we move from Sunday School stories to Biblical events, we see a more complete picture of the faithful men who did great things for God. We see men who followed God despite the same kinds of failures that we experience. Despite their failures, these men were defined by their faith, so are we.

• Noah - Everybody Fails
• Genesis 9:20-21
  
• Abraham - Failure Follows a Pattern
• Genesis 12:10-20, 20:1-3
  
• Moses - Failure has Consequences
• Numbers 20:9-12
  
• Hebrews 11 -
  
• Failure Does Not Define Us - Faith Defines Us!
  

DO - Matthew 25:31-46

While Christians know that they are justified by faith, Jesus still taught that men are judged by works. Parables in Matthew 7 and Matthew 25 give examples of this. Matthew 7 teaches that there will be those who do great things, but Jesus will say that he never knew them. Matthew 25 teaches that basic acts done for "the least of these" have a much greater importance than we realize.

DO:

• Simple Things
• For the Right Reasons
• Good Deeds are the Fruit, not the Root
• For All People
• "Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words." - St. Francis of Assisi
  

A Fresh Start - Colossians 3:1-4

Every life is precious. The Christian life is a special gift from God, given at Baptism. Baptism is one of the most misunderstood, controversial practices in Christianity. This Biblical look not only describes Baptism, but talks about what it means for the Christian and how it impacts them for eternity.

Baptism is:

• For Everyone - Ephesians 4:4-6
  ...one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all...
  
• For the End - Romans 6:2b-3
  Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
  
• For a Beginning - Colossians 2:9-12
  ...you have been given fullness in Christ...
  
• For the Heart - Colossians 3:1
  ...set your hearts on things above...
  
• For the Mind - Colossians 3:2
  ...set your mind on things above...
  
• For Eternity - Colossians 3:3-4
  ...you will also appear with Him in glory.
  

Family Dinner - 1 Corinthians 11:17-29

Food is an essential part of life, but it is more than that. It is the central part of many of the social customs and practices that fill our lives. It only makes sense that God would take such a simple, important part of our life and use it to remind us of what is most important. When Jesus met with the disciples for the "Last Supper" he instituted a memorial service that can apply to every meal we eat, but relates specifically to the weekly meetings of the Family of God.

• Dinner for One - “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup." - 11:27-28
  
• Dinner for Two - “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” - 11:26
• A Family Dinner - "So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other." - 11:33