Overcomer: Overcoming the Epidemic of Apathy

Notes in black are provided by Life Church
Notes in red are notes that I have taken. 

Life.Church
May 20, 2017
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Overcomer: Overcoming the Epidemic of Apathy
Stare down your fears, shatter your insecurities, and shake off the apathy that tries to hold you back. You’re not a prisoner—you’re an Overcomer.
http://bible.com/events/219441
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About Life.Church
Life.Church is a global church with a huge vision to reach people who don’t know Christ. We love getting together every week to worship God and experience a relevant and powerful message, and we’re glad you’re joining us today! Visit www.life.church to learn more about our church.

To make the most of your experience, we encourage you to download the Life.Church app to follow along with the service and connect directly with our team. www.life.church/app

Someone has said that we are the apathetic generation.  Are we?

Luke 10:31-32 NIV
A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
http://bible.com/111/luk.10.31-32.NIV

This story is a powerful image of apathy.  

Why Don’t We Care Like Jesus Calls Us to Care?

• The volume of information is overwhelming.
• We feel helpless to make a change.
• We are blessed and cursed with comfort.

Overcoming Apathy

Consistently expose yourself to something that creates a righteous discomfort.

This will be something that moves you on behalf of God.  

Romans 9:1-3 NLT
With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.
http://bible.com/116/rom.9.1-3.NLT

In these scriptures, Paul is invested in the doing what he can for results.  

Channeling Your Passion

1. Focus on something.
   examples would be:
   Abortion
   Human trafficking
   Racial problems
   Clean water
   Something that captures your heart and not your attention.
   Team with others, Satan will talk you out of it.  
2. Embrace what hurts.
   Hurt with a purpose that exist without one

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

— A Franciscan Blessing

Talk It Over
The best way to apply the weekly message is to talk it over and think about it during the rest of the week. Here are a few questions to get you started:

1) If apathetic is a 1 and enthusiastic is a 10, where do you rate yourself on the scale when it comes to helping others?

2) What brings you righteous discomfort? What keeps you from turning it into a fiercely righteous passion?

3) What step will you take to focus on something and join those who are doing something about it?

Choose an opportunity to Connect Locally at: www.life.church/lifemissions

Bible Plan
Overcomer
6 Days
http://bible.com/r/150

Overcomer: Overcoming the Curse of Comparing

Notes in black are provided by Life Church
Notes in red are notes that I have taken. 

Life.Church
May 13, 2017
====================================
Overcomer: Overcoming the Curse of Comparing
Stare down your fears, shatter your insecurities, and shake off the apathy that tries to hold you back. You’re not a prisoner—you’re an Overcomer.
http://bible.com/events/215833
====================================

Fastest way to kill something special is to compare it to something else. 

Where comparison begins, contentment ends.

We compare our behind the scenes with everyone else's highlight reel. 

2 Corinthians 10:12 NLT
… But they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant!

Comparing makes you feel either superior or inferior—neither honors God.

We all tend to live in the land of Er.  We want to be faster, smarter, prettier. Some even want to live in the land of Est. In the end, if you try to live in either land you will wind up miserablest if you try to live in Er or Est. 

John 20:2-4, 6, 8 NIV
So she [Mary] came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. …6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. …8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside.

John 21:20-22 NIV
Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”
http://bible.com/111/jhn.21.20-22.NIV

Peter was given an assignment.  Then he compares himself to John.  Jesus then tells him to do what he was told to do.  We cannot fully follow Jesus if we are comparing ourselves to someone else.  There is no win in comparison. 

Who or what is going to define my worth?
If you are a Jesus follower and the answer to this is anything but Jesus you can not win.  

Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
http://bible.com/111/heb.12.1-2.NIV

Run the race in the lane marked for you. Stay in your lane. You run your own race and compete against yourself. 

1 Corinthians 9:24-26 NLT
Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.
http://bible.com/116/1co.9.24-26.NLT

You can not win someone else's race.  Run your own race.  

Bible Reading plan. 
Overcomer
6 Days
http://bible.com/r/150

Grace Church Sunday Morning - Climbing Companions Pt 6

Title: What? Agreeing With Your Advisory 

Sunday morning 11:30 service

Geof Jackson

Matthew 5:21-26 (ESV)

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"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.'
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. 

Matthew 5:17 (NIV)
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"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Matthew 5:20 (ESV)
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For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 

Romans 3:21 - we have a way to be righteous with out the requirements of the law, Jesus.

If you believe the law is the only way you have to live it out.  Jesus says we have a way to live more righteous then the pharisees. God made us righteous. 

Matthew 5:21-22 (ESV)
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"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.'
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.

Matthew 5:23-24 (ESV)
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So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

There is a place that anger is allowed. Sin and unrighteousness are things we can be angry at, people we can not be angry at. 

Jesus says that you can not be angry at your brother and be in the righteousness of His Love. 

Leviticus 6:1-7 (ESV)
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The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
"If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor
or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely—in any of all the things that people do and sin thereby—
if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found
or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt.
And he shall bring to the priest as his compensation to the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent for a guilt offering.
And the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven for any of the things that one may do and thereby become guilty."

Matthew 5:25-26 (ESV)

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Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. Lust

Psalm 66:18 (ESV)
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If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

1 Peter 3:7-12 (ESV)
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Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. Suffering for Righteousness' Sake
Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
For "Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;
let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

verse 7 is not some form of legalism, it shows a relationship with a spouse can affect how your relationship with God can be affected.  We can not receive from the Lord if we have bitterness and anger in our lives.  

Ephesians 4:17-32 (ESV)
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Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

Do not live like unbelievers.

They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
But that is not the way you learned Christ!—
assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,
to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

Put off the old ways of doing things  and then: 

and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
and give no opportunity to the devil.
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 5:1-4 (ESV)
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Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.
Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

1 John 1:9-10 (ESV)
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If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 2:1-2 (ESV)
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My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.Prayer

Grace Church Sunday Morning - Climbing Companions Pt 5

Law or No?
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Matthew 5:17-20 (ESV)
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17. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

18. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

19. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Law or No?
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Beliefs on the Law are widely varied today, but fall into three major categories:
1) We are still under every command, sacrifice, ritual, etc.
2) The Law has absolutely nothing to do with New Covenant believers
3) The Law still exists, but its relation to us has changed since Jesus

It is not truly possible to be practicing under the law as it is impossible to offer sacrifices at the temple since there is a mosque there. 

On the other hand people say that the law is not existence and ignore the old testament.  That needs to be thrown out as it throws out Jesus. 

So we believe the third way.  It exist but we view things in a  changed way. 

Jesus did not come to abolish the law.   

Eph 2:15 

15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 

Jesus has rendered the law useless.  The law still stands but you can not use it to get righteousness.  The law still stands. 

v. 18 - Jesus says the law is going to stand forever.  It still speaks to us.  If the Spirit of God is abiding in you then you will live under the law.  

We are no longer under dietary, hygienic , ceremonial restrictions of the law.  They were pictures of Jesus but we have the real thing.  The pictures can still speak to us so we should look to them from time to time.  

We still have to follow the moral law. They are summed up in the 10 commandments. It can be summed up in one word.  LOVE

Gal 5:14(ESV)

14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

James 2:8 (ESV)

8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 

v. 20 - The people saw the Pharisees were the righteous. They thought this because they saw the rule following was what made them this way.  Jesus was trying to show them this is not the way of righteousness. 

Matt 5 (MSG)

17-18“Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God’s Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s Law will be alive and working.19-20“Trivialize even the smallest item in God’s Law and you will only have trivialized yourself. But take it seriously, show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom. Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won’t know the first thing about entering the kingdom.

SOUL CARE Tough Love Week 4

Grace Church
Chuck McConkey
July 9, 2014

Responding to Your Prodigal

When we have a prodigal child we have to learn to separate the behavior from the child. Reject the behavior.
Reject -

• cast off, spew out
• to refuse to accept or consider

If we reject the prodigal, we are building walls.  Do we reject the good things for the problem behavior.  Many people see things as either/or.  Rejection will not produce change in a prodigal.  It will produce walls, and other problems. 

So what do we do?  We confront. This is not anger, it is sharing of facts and figures.  Tell them that you are not in favor of their behavior.  Bring out facts and feelings.  Confrontation is actually correction.  You may take actions to remove things, that is discipline.  Do not let it get to the level of anger.  Correction should be done in kindness.  People are not entitled to anything. Use removal of things/privileges to help correct bad behavior.  

Speak in Love

Eph 4:

15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 

Do not worry about speaking the truth being awkward.  

Be Tender

Explain to them what is going on and how it can be fixed.  

Do not be armed.

Do not go in loaded for bear hunt.  

Be reasonable

This is not being so objective that you are not confronting. Go through what your emotions are. Work out how that person can start to earn your trust again.

LTDP - a method of ways to confront.  

Listen - this is half of confronting, listen to what they have to say

Think - decision without thinking can lead to a bad situation  Prov. 14:17,29; Prov 12:15 

Discuss - discuss with that person, if your spouse is available talk over with them.

Pray - seek God's wisdom in what needs to be done. 

Work on encouraging one another.  Heb. 10:25

Grace Church Sunday Morning Service - Full House

Grace Church, Tulsa, OK

July 6, 2014

2nd Service

Geoff Pybas

Luke 14:16-24 (ESV)

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But he said to him, "A man once gave a great banquet and invited many.
And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.'
But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.'
And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.'
And another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'
So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'
And the servant said, 'Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.'
And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.
For I tell you,none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.'" 

Matthew 22:8-14
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Matthew 22:8-14 (ESV)
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Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.'
And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
"But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.
And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless.
Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
For many are called, but few are chosen." Paying Taxes to Caesar

Full House
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1. Ready

Luke 14:17 - Everything is now ready.  What is the meaning of this? In John, Jesus says there is a place prepared for us.
 Harvest  - harvest is ready but laborers are few.  

We are ready, we have been told to go into  all the world.  

What hinders us:? v18- 21 -  Excuses, people make excuses and we stop.But we make excuses to not evangelize.  We make excuses and live the repeating  life of day to day life.  

2. Make the master's house full

v.23  

Quit making excuses and go everyone to come, compel them.  We need to be not just a teaching church but one that takes that teaching and reaches out to the people to bring them in.  

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James 1:22-24 (ESV)
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But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

Grace Church - Climbing Companions Pt 4

Grace Church 

Sunday June 29, 2014, 2nd service

Pastor Robb Yandian

Salt and Light
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Matthew 5:13-16 (ESV)
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13. "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

14. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

15. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

16. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Christ Came to Fulfill the Law

Salt and Light
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The analogies here are not quite understood because times have changed.  Salt is not really valuable to us anymore.  We use salt for flavoring. In those days it was used for a lot more.  When they heard salt, they heard value.  Value is determined by desire and value (supply and demand).  

Salt was used to preserve food, to add flavor, to change the environment that it is in.  

All of these are things that we should be doing as Christians.  

But what happens when salt looses the saltiness (as Christians not doing anything) what happens.  It is good for nothing.  

Salt does not strive to be salt, it just is. So is the other part, light.  

Shut off every source of light and it is dark, but one light source penetrated the darkness.  We are to be a light source to the people around us.  We are not to make our light shine, it is in us.  We are to let it shine.  

Message Version

13“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

14-16“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.