Access Church

Proverbs 4:23 // "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."

Ephesians 4:26-27 // "Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun go down on your anger, nor give the devil a foothold."

The goal of anger is to carry it the least amount of time as possible.

Greed - I owe me

Jealousy - God owes me

Guilt says I owe you

Anger says YOU OWE ME.

Ephesians 4:31-32 // "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

Getting rid of anger is more important that getting paid back.

Identify who you are angry with.

Decide what was taken from you.

Cancel the debt.

Forgiveness breaks the power of anger.

Inattentional blindness is the psychological phenomenon that causes you to miss things that are right in front of your eyes.

Implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner.

Mark 12:28-34 // “One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.” Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.”

“How is your faith working for everyone around you?” - Bob Goff

Isaiah 58:2 // They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me.

Isaiah 58:6 // “No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.”

Isaiah 58:11 // The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.

Isaiah 58:12 // Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.

Matthew 5:14-16 ESV // “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.

We are a picture of Jesus to the dark world.

Light reveals truth.

Light exposes darkness.

John 8:12 ESV // Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Mark 4:19 ESV // ... but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Do my friends know?

Reasons you might be afraid to share your faith:

Fear of offending

Fear of loss

Fear of being passed over

Acts 1:8 ESV // But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

2 Kings 4:8-37

8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9 She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”

11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’”

She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”

14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked.

Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”

15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”

“No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”

17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. 19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!”

His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. 21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.

22 She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.”

23 “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.”

“That’s all right,” she said.

24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.”

25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite!

26 Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’”

“Everything is all right,” she said.

27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why.”

28 “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”

29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. Don’t greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”

30 But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.

31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”

32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. 35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” 37 She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

God has a way of OVERRULING our OBJECTIONS.

Impossible is where God begins.

Come with expectation.

What do you have available to you?

The ingredients for a miracle are always in our midst.

This isn’t a miracle moment this is a management moment.

He’s not asking one person to do everything. He is asking everyone to do something.

We curse our lack, but Jesus takes the little bit there and is thankful for it.

Can you be thankful for the lack in your life?

God starts from your place in brokenness.

When something is blessed, it multiplies.

How To Get Past Your Past

To get past our past, we often try to self-medicate, motivate, and meditate. Rather than work to make us better, God's intention is to make us new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV  //

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT  //

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

If you don’t let your past DIE, it won’t let you LIVE.

1. In Christ, I am completely FORGIVEN.

Romans 8:1  //  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

John 8:1-11  //  ... Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

2. In Christ I am intrinsically VALUABLE.

Romans 5:6-11  //  When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

The value of my life is not the mess I made, but the price Christ paid.

3. In Christ, I am unconditionally LOVED.

1 John 4:10  //  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

No Place Like Known

 

How to recognize shame:

Fear of Exposure and Intimacy

Fear of never feeling good enough

Driven by performance

Devastated by criticism

Overly critical of ourselves and others

Extreme rage and desire to please people

Motivated by what other people think

Motivated by fear (rejection, failure)

Underperforming to avoid risk

Self-hate and self-depreciation

Measuring your value by how well you perform

Rejecting with people who don’t measure up

 

Shame is DISINTEGRATING

Shame is ISOLATING

 

Mark 1:40  //

A man with leprosy came to him...

Leviticus 13:45  //

“Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’

Leviticus 13:46 //

As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp.

Mark 1:40  //

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Mark 1:41  //

Jesus was moved with compassion. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”

Mark 1:42 //

Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

Mark 1:41  //

Jesus was moved with compassion.

Mark 1:41  // 

Jesus was indignant…

 

Proverbs 18:1 ESV  //

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.

 

Guilt

Shame

Hiding

Condemnation

 

John 3:16 //

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:17  //

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

 

Romans 8:1  //

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The antidote to shame is vulnerability and truth.

 

Genesis 2:18  // 

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Confess to God

 

1 John 1:9  //

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Confess to Others

 

James 5:16  //

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

 

The danger of isolation is greater than the risk of intimacy.

Grace moves us from FAILURE to FAMILY.

What can wash away MY sin?

 

Communion

Come Union

How to recognize shame:

Fear of Exposure and Intimacy

Fear of never feeling good enough.

Devastated by criticism.

Being overly critical of ourselves and others.

Motivated by what other people think.

Motivated by fear.

Underperforming to avoid risk.

Self hate and self depreciation.

Measuring your value by how well you perform.

Rejecting with people who don’t measure up.

 

Shame never comes from God.

 

Guilt says, I deserve to be PUNISHED.

Shame says, I am WORTHLESS.

Guilt says I DID bad.

Shame says I AM bad.

 

1. Did God really say that?

2. Where are you?

3. Who told you that you were naked?

 

Shame Based Thinking:

• We are vulnerable to PERFECTIONISM.

• We are CRITICAL of ourselves, making us CRITICAL of others.

• We use self-defeating THOUGHTS as a form of protection and escape.

Isaiah 54:4 NLT  //  “Fear not; you will no longer live in shame. Don’t be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you. You will no longer remember the shame of your youth…”

The only way to heal from shame is to move the FOCUS from what I’m not to who Christ is.

1 John 1:9  //  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.