Holy Habits

Part 2 - Bible Study

Jeremiah 23:29

Today’s Question: Are you ready to experience true life change on a daily basis?

1. God’s Word is purifying like a blazing fire: “Does not my word burn like fire?” says the LORD. 2. God’s Word is powerful like a mighty hammer: “Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces?” Call to action: Memorize one verse that is relevant to your present spiritual need.

Tips for memorizing God’s Word from the Navigators:

4 Steps to Memorizing More Scripture

Step 1: Pick an area of gospel truth you’re motivated to understand more deeply

Step 2: Dig into the context

Step 3: Memorize in bite-sized pieces

Step 4: Review with friends

3. God’s Word is a lamp that illuminates your daily steps.

The Sword Study Method: A popular method of reading the Bible in a way that helps you apply God’s Word in every area of your life.

“The Sword Method helps believers learn how to read the Bible as well as understand and apply it to their lives. It starts with a simple picture of a sword, which has four sides that coincide with four questions. We encourage them to ask these same four questions every time they read a passage of Scripture.

The four questions are:

1. What do I learn about God?

2. What do I learn about man?

3. Is there an example to follow?

4. Is there a command to obey?

Using these four questions, believers of every walk and background can discover more about God, humanity, and how they can display their love for Him through obedience to His word.”

Resources for Bible Study:

* Youversion Bible App. Download and pick a daily Bible reading plan. Add Arden First Baptist as your church and you will find preselected plans for you and your family.

* Rightnowmedia. We provide this for you for free! Simply sign up on our website under the media tab and register.

* Biblegateway.com. This is a great resource for Bible study: Devotionals and commentaries.

* Arden First Baptist Podcast. We have taught though several books of the Bible. Go back and pick a book and listen through the teachings.

* Thomas Nelson NKJV Study Bible. This is one of the best study Bibles that I have found.

* For a new believer: The NIV or NLT Life Application Study Bible is a good Bible to start with.

* Listen to good Bible teachers on Youtube such as Pastor Skip Heitzig, David Geziuk, or Gary Hamrick.

* Keeping a spiritual prayer journal can greatly help you in your daily Bible reading.

* Want to go deeper? Try reading a commentary along with your Bible study. What do I recommend? The Bible Knowledge Commentary by Zuck is a great book to start. The Be Series by Warren Wiersbe is another great resource. Want a commentary with good stories? Try a commentary by Pastor Chuck Swindoll.

Today’s Big Idea: God’s Word is purifying like a fire, powerful like a hammer, and illuminating like a light.

Action Steps (Applications):

* Commit to a daily study of the Scriptures. This will be one of the most important decisions that you can make in your life!

* Treasure the Word in your heart. Get into the Word and allow the Word to get into you!

* Practice the put on/put off method. For every sin and struggle—confess, repent, and replace the vice with a virtue. Memorizing key Scriptures pertaining to your struggle is a great way to overcome your sin or struggle.

Preview for next week: Holy Habits, Part 3: Giving. Bring a friend!

Holy Habits

Part 1-Worship

Romans 12

Worship as a Lifestyle: Invading the 167 - How would your life change if your life became a living worship service to God?

1. Worship is a life that is fully surrendered to God and His purposes (v. 1).

• Therefore. What is the “therefore” there for?

• Complete surrender to Jesus is the only logical response to the mercies of God in your life.

• Notice the type of sacrifice that God desires: A _____ sacrifice.

Worship Principle: When I surrender my life to Jesus and His purposes, God sees this as a living worship to Him.

2. Worship is a mind that is transformed by God’s Word and surrendered to God’s will (v. 2-3).

• So, if you are surrendered to God, the next step is to change the way you think.

• How do you change the way that you think? By renewing your mind.

Application: Ways to renew your mind: An introduction to the 7 Holy Habits:

#1- Worship: How to express your thankfulness to God.

#2- Bible Study: How to understand and apply the Scriptures to your daily life.

#3- Giving: How to give back to God in a way that expresses your gratitude for God’s goodness.

#4- Fellowship: How to experience true Christian community.

#5- Prayer: How to connect with God in conversation.

#6- Ministry: How to serve the needs of others in the church and community.

#7- Fasting: How to deny yourself so that you can better focus on God.

• There are some thought patterns that you need to get rid of:

i. Worldly thinking: Thought patterns that are influenced by the worldly culture around me. Application: Some of you are more influenced by Fox News or CNN than by your Bible! This has got to change!

ii. Negative Thinking: A critical spirit is not a spiritual gift…rather, it’s a rotten fruit of the flesh!

iii. Prideful thinking: Whatever good you have…it’s been given to you from above…so you have no room to think it’s because of you…no, it’s all because of God’s grace and mercy that has been poured out in your life. You have been given a measure of faith—the gift that you have it’s been given to you as a steward to use for the glory of God and the good of others.

3. Worship is serving God with the gifts that He has entrusted to me (v. 4-8).

• You have been given a gift to give to build up others in the Body of Christ.

• What are some of the gifts that God gives to build up His church?

I Peter 4:10; As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

1) Prophecy-All types of speaking gifts; Speaking God’s Word. Revealing God’s will in a particular situation. Call to action: Speak as though God were speaking through you—in proportion to the true faith and sound doctrine found in the Scriptures.

2) Ministry-Service; serving others; the same Greek work as “deacon” and “deaconess”; every kind of practical help. Call to action: If you have the gift of service, put this gift into practical use!

3) Teaching-The ability to interpret, clarify, systematize, and explain God’s Word clearly. Call to action: Teach in such a way that people can apply the Word of God to their daily lives. (Preaching is telling people what to do from God’s Word and teaching is telling them how to do it-proclamation vs application).

4) Exhorting-Encouraging others to follow, obey, and serve God enthusiastically, rebuke when in sin. Call to action: If you have the gift of encouraging others and challenging them to reach their full redemptive potential—step up your game and start encouraging!

5) Giving-The ability to create resources which can be used generously to help others; sacrificially sharing. Call to action: Use your extra resources to fund the purposes of God in the world. What if God is blessing you not just to raise your standard of living, but also you standard of giving?

6) Leading-Leading people from where they are to where God wants them to be. Call to action: Use your God-given gift of leadership diligently. Grow in emotional intelligence. Learn how to best lead the people of God towards the call of God in their lives.

7) Showing Mercy; Being sensitive towards the needs and weaknesses of others. Call to action: Help others and don’t complain about it! Build others up who can’t repay you and trust God to repay you in His own timing and ways.

4. Worship is living like Jesus in my relationships with others (v. 9-16).

• How many of you would like to have better relationships with others?

The 12 Actions of Having Better Relationships with others:

1) Be kind: Truly love people in authentic ways.

2) Be holy: Despise what is evil.

3) Run towards that which is good.

4) Practice honoring others above yourself.

5) Be so on fire for Jesus that you don’t have time to idleness.

6) Have a positive attitude towards even the difficult things in your life.

7) Let prayer be your daily lifeline to God.

8) Get good at helping out other Christians and love helping strangers.

9) Be a blessing even with the difficult people in your life.

10) Celebrate what God is doing in the lives of others.

11) Enter into the sorrow of a fellow brother or sister.

12) Be humble and you will avoid the stumble!

• How would your life change if you start living like Jesus were walking in your shoes?

5. Worship is invading the darkness in my world with the light of the Lord (v. 17-21).

• How you respond to the evil around you reveals a lot about you!

• How does God want me to respond to evil in the world? You have 3 main options:

1) Payback: Respond in like kind: Return evil with evil. You will not overcome evil by doing evil in return. Two wrongs never make a right!

2) Be overcome by evil: Let the enemy run you into the ground. Just be a pushover. God has called us to be a peacemaker not a peacekeeper!

3) Overcome evil by doing good: The only way to beat the bad guy is by doing good!

Today’s Big Idea: Worship is offering your life like a blank check is your loving and logical response for all that Jesus has done for you!

Action Steps (Applications):

• Offer your life to Jesus as a blank check: Surrendering to Jesus as Lord.

• Change the way you think: Stop thinking like the world by transforming your thinking with the Word of God.

• Sign up for a Serve Team. A surrendered life is a life that is devoted to serving Jesus and His Work in the world.

Preview for next week: Holy Habits, Part 2: Bible Study.

Vision Sunday 2022

Stones of Significance: Joshua 4

Stones of Significance: What stone will you lay for future generations?

1. God did miracles for the children of Israel, and He wanted them to remember it (v. 1-3). Faith comes before sight. Don’t wait for everything to fall into place before you take your first step of faith. Take your first step of faith after God calls your name and tells you to move!

2. God called the leaders to lay stones of significance that would impact future generations (v. 3-7, 21-24). When God wants to do something mighty in the earth, He always raises up a leader who is willing to lead the people of God’s forward in the mission of God.

3. The children of Israel moved forward with the mission of God in their lives (v. 8-9). In the Great Co-Mission, Jesus tells us what to do—make disciples. He tells us where to go—everywhere. He tells us who to reach—everyone from every nation. He tells us what we need to be about—going (being on mission); baptizing (reaching people with the Gospel); and teaching (the fundamentals of the Christian faith). The Gospel never changes, but the methods must change so that others may understand the Good News in their own culture.

Our Mission: To lead ORDINARY people into EXTRAORDINARY life in Christ.

B3-Belong. Believe. Become. (the 3 verbs of our mission)

Our Vision: We are one family in many locations. Our vision is being a missional community of Radical, Relational, and Relevant Christ-followers.

R3-Radical. Relational. Relevant. (The 3 adjectives of our vision).

5 Year Vision Goal: To reach and disciple 1% of our community (60,000) people.

⎫ Active in worship (100%)

⎫ Connected to community (80%)

⎫ Embracing my place through serving and giving (50%)

⎫ Multiplying myself (25%)

5-year outcome: 800 active worshippers by the end of 2026.

*Active=attends at least once a month (12 services minimum per year).

*Includes those who are engaging in worship in our online ministries.

The Adjectives of our vision: R3: Radical, Relational, and Relevant.

So what does this look like? What’s our goal? The following is a breakdown of our goals for moving people into greater levels of discipleship and engagement with our mission:

> Active in worship (100%)-400+ people.

o How are we doing? We now have over 350 people active in worship!

> Connected to community (80%). 20+ Arden Groups.

o How are we doing? We now have 15 groups this year.

> Embracing my place through serving and giving (50%). 200+ people actively serving.

o How are we doing? We have around 125 people actively serving.

> Multiplying myself (25%) 1000+ Gospel Conversations.

o How are we doing? We have had ___ Gospel Conversations.

5-year outcome: 800 active worshippers by the end of 2026.

*Active=attends at least once a month (12 minimum per year. This includes in person and online engagement).

Our Big 5 Objectives to reach our 5-year vision:

1. Proclaim the Gospel in our community, city, and world (Acts 1:8 strategy).

2. Produce and equip multiplying disciples (Matthew 28:18-20).

3. Invade the 167—Strategically connect with people outside of Sunday services (Acts 2:40-47).

4. Raise up and empower dynamic leaders who have great character, competency, and chemistry (I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 2:1-10).

5. Launch at least one new church location. We will be one family in at least two locations (Isaiah 61, Psalm 78:4-7).

Today’s Big Idea: God has given you a stone of significance that has the potential to impact generations to come.

Action Steps:

1) Engage with the Great Commission. Dedicate your life to impacting the lives of others for eternity.

2) Commit to use your stone of significance to impact generations to come. Share the history of God in your life with the next generation. Make sure that your faith rubs off on them in impactful ways!

3) Join our church family and become part of something that is bigger than yourself: A family of God that right in the middle of a move of God in our midst!

Preview for next Sunday: New Series: Holy Habits! An exciting 7-week series to help you start off the Fall season with renewed holy habits that have the power to change your daily life!

Reaching for the Finish Line

Acts 28:11-31

Today’s Question: What does it look like just before you cross the finish line of God’s calling in your life?

There will be many twists and turns all the way to the finish line (v. 11-14). What happens when the ship that you counted on got sunk? In God’s time, He provides a new ship for you to sail on! God will send encouragement to you along the way (v. 15-16). So what about those times, when you seem to have very few people or no one to encourage you? You practice the spiritual discipline of self-encouragement: When no one is around to encourage you, what do you do? You encourage yourself in the Lord! Since God is the God of all hope, He sends encouragement along the way—especially when you need it the most!

5 practical ways to encourage yourself in the Lord:

1) Talk to God often.

2) Treasure scripture verses that are a source of encouragement to your soul.

3) Surround yourself with other godly, positive people!

4) Practice the presence of the Holy Spirit.

5) Shake it off! Learn to let stuff go by leaving it at the foot of the Cross.

As you reach the finish line, your sense of Gospel urgency grows even stronger (v. 17-29). We are living in a day where several Christian denominations are trying to change the essence of the Christian message so that more people will accept the message. This is wrong! This is a different Gospel! We must stick by the message. As you see the finish line, God will often bring unexpected surprises to your door (v. 30-31). What would happen if you asked God to make your home your base of operation—reaching people with the Gospel?

Let’s be the next chapter in God’s salvation story!

Today’s Big Idea: Keep running onwards as Jesus calls you name on the other side of the finish line!

Action Steps (Applications):

* Stay focused on Jesus and the call on your life as you head towards the finish line.

* Live like Jesus while you in this race. Don’t compromise the Word or your testimony.

* Let’s be the next living chapter in God’s salvation history.

Shipwrecked, snake bitten, but not forgotten!

Acts 27:39-28:10

Today’s Question: How should you respond AFTER you’ve experienced a great tragedy in your life?

1. You ship may sink, but you are not sunk (27:39-44). Eventually you will get to the end of the storm that you’re in.

2. God’s goodness often shows up in the most unlikely places (28:1-2). After a great storm, look for a rainbow of God’s goodness and love in your life.

3. Satan often likes to strike after a great breakthrough (28:3). How to avoid the snake bites of life: Put on the full armor of God because the ancient serpent is looking to land a bite on you to slow down or even stop your progress in your calling and your character.

4. People often assume the worst about you when something bad happens to you (28:4). It is so easy to get caught up in social media likes, the size of your following, and how many friends you have. It’s easy to find your identity by the amount of money you possess, the size of your house, and by the name of the college that you graduated from. But guess what? While all these things can be a blessing—none of these things really matter against the light of eternity. What really matters is that you know that you belong to Jesus. I am my Beloved’s, and He is mine!

5. Let God be your defender when the deck is stacked against you (v. 28:5-6). What Paul did physically…you can learn to do spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. àWhen the enemy attacks, you learn to shake it off!

How to “shake off” when the enemy latches on:

Prayer. Pray it off.

Community. Together, we pull it off.

Fasting. Breaking it off.

Worship. Praise it off.

6. Keep doing the most eternal good you can even when times are not favorable (28:7-10). Avoid mission drift and stay determined to stick with what God’s call you to do—no matter what happens to you!

Review:

The Gospel: For the Believer-Shake off the bites from the enemy. Look to Jesus for healing. Ask for forgiveness where you have let bitterness grow in your heart. And forgive all those who have hurt you in the past.

For the Seeker-You have been bit by sin. The only way to shake off the stain of sin is by asking Jesus to save you, forgive you, and set you free!

Today’s Big Idea: When you get bit by a snake, shake it off and keep moving forward with the mission of God in your life!

Action Steps (Applications):

Learn to turn sunk ships into unearthed treasures: There’s a purpose behind every storm.

Shake it off and turn to Jesus. Lean in Jesus when you feel hurt, afraid, or tempted to give up.

Put on the full armor of God to prevent future snake bites!

Stick to the mission. Don’t let the “sinking ships” or the “snake-bits” of life cause you to get off mission.

Preview for next week

Read Acts 28:11-31.

Secure in the Storm

Acts 27

4 Anchors of HOPE that you give you security in the storm:

Anchor #1: PREPARATION. God prepares you BEFORE the storm (v. 1-3).

God never sends his child into a storm without first preparing his child for the storm. Before the storm comes the preparation. The God who controls the storm is also the God who prepares you before you get into the storm. There is nothing that you are presently facing that God hasn’t already been working in you to prepare you for what’s coming. And when you’re in the storm—you will find that God is giving you FRESH grace to get your through the storm.

Anchor #2: PRESENCE. God is with you IN the storm (v. 4-26).

Anchor #3: COURAGE. God gives you supernatural courage in the storm (v. 10-11, 21-26, 30-38).

Paul was supposed to be the prisoner. Instead the prisoner was transformed into the preacher. The boat was supposed to be a vehicle of transportation. Instead the boat became a floating church service. Never underestimate what God can do. He can turn your nightmare into a dream. He can turn your heartbreak into a heart song! Ask God to turn the bad that’s happening TO you to the good that He wants to do THROUGH you!

Anchor #4: HOPE. God can turn your worst storm into your most significant story (v. 10, 21-44).

Today’s Big Idea: God is FOR you and WITH you even in the most difficult storms of your life.

Action Steps (Applications):

Prepare: Learn the lessons that God is teaching you know so that you’ll be fully prepared BEFORE the next storm comes.

Presence: Live each day in the presence of God. Learn to walk with the Holy Spirit’s daily guidance and instruction.

Courage: Replace unhealthy fears with the healthy fear of God. Live a life of courage even when the storms of life hit you hard!

Hope: Learn to see the significance in the storm you’re in right now. Storms add significance to your story.

Preview for next week: Read Acts 28

The Opportunity of a Lifetime

Acts 25:23-26:32

The Opportunity of a Lifetime - 3 Mind-bending Realities about Difficult Trials:

God can turn your worst setback into your greatest set-up (Acts 25:23-27). What if the worst thing that ever happened TO you becomes the best thing that ever happened FOR you from eternity’s perspective?

The opportunity of a lifetime is every time you get to share Jesus with someone who is lost (Acts 26:1-23). Challenge: Share your testimony with someone this week or share your testimony on social media!

Do your best for God and leave the results to God (Acts 26:24-32). Dear Dad…Dear mom…. Raising your kids in the Lord just may be your most important contribution in your entire life. So raise them up in the Lord…and when they are grown up…leave the results to God!

Today’s Big Idea: Sharing Jesus with the lost is truly the opportunity of a lifetime.

Action Steps (Applications):

Ask God to turn your worst setback into your greatest setup for the Kingdom of God!

Share your testimony with someone who doesn’t know Jesus this week.

Seek to do your best in every situation this week…and leave the results to God!

Preview for next week: Read Acts 27

Let’s Change the World

Faith Under Fire

Acts 25:1-22

4 Inspiring Truths about Faith under fire:

Authentic faith stays alive even under the threat of death (v. 1-3). Authentic faith stands strong even under vicious vilification (v. 4-8). Authentic faith seeks truth in a world full of lies (v. 9-12). Authentic faith soars bravely in the face of fear (v. 13-22).

What is a soundtrack? A soundtrack is a repetitive thought.

You have a sound track for every part of your life.

Culture is a collection of soundtracks playing consistently at a company.

Great thoughts lead to great actions.

Great actions lead to great results.

3 ways to replace ungodly sound tracks with biblical ones.

1. Retire broken sounds tracks—

2. Replace them with new soundtracks—

3. Repeat until automatic—

Today’s Big Idea: Faith under fire glows brighter as you focus on Jesus.

Action Steps (Applications):

Pre-decide to be a person of authentic truth: To tell the truth, to live the truth, and to avoid spread half-truths (gossip, rumors).

Replace the old, negative soundtracks in your life with the new, life giving sound tracks found in God’s Word. Take off those dirty cloths and start wearing your new clothes in Christ!

Preview for next week: Read Acts 26.

The Waiting Room: How to make the most out of the wait!

Psalm 40:1-5, 16-17

Today’s Question: How do you make the most out of the waiting room?

The waiting room: The distance between the promise and the fulfillment is the waiting room!

1. In the waiting room, remember WHO you’re waiting on (v. 1a).

Who are you waiting on? The LORD! David wasn’t waiting in vain, because he knew Who he was waiting upon—David was waiting upon the Lord!

If you are waiting on the LORD, every waiting room is actually God’s waiting room where He is preparing you for what He has in store for you!

Waited-Hebrew: waiting, I waited.

Joyful Waiting Room Formula: The Wait+ Anticipation + Perseverance= The waiting room becomes a delivery room!

2. In the waiting room, keep on praying, even through your doubts (v. 1b).

Though the wait seems long and hard—keep on pressing into prayer because God is present even though you can’t feel His presence right now!

God is watching over you…notice God’s watchful and loving actions in this verse:

i. He inclined to me-This is the picture of the loving Creator of the universe stooping down to lean into and listen to His prized child who is pleading for His help!

ii. He heard my cry-I was crying loudly hoping that He would hear me…but I didn’t have to yell, because He was already aware of my pain and my plight.

Benefits of waiting:

Renewal (Isaiah 40:31). But those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

Restoration (Psalm 23:3). He restores my soul.

Retooling-2 Timothy 1:6-7; 6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

3. In the waiting room, look forward to the adventure on the other side (v. 2).

How many of you are in the waiting room right now?

Can I give you this truth: If you are truly waiting on the Lord, I want to give you a glimpse of what lies on the other side:

Deliverance is waiting on the other side! “He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay.”

Stability is waiting on the other side! “And set my feet upon a rock.”

Direction and destiny are waiting on the other side! “And established my steps.”

4. In the waiting room, ask God to turn your old sadness into a new song (v. 3).

Every new deliverance gives birth to a new song.

i. Old songs are great because they remind us of what God did in the past.

ii. New songs are amazing because they declare that God not only did something in the past, but He is doing something amazing in the present.

Are you living in past deliverances or are experiencing what God is doing in the present? God is the God who enjoys doing new things in our lives.

5. In the waiting room, stay focused on the goodness of God (v. 4-5, 16-17).

Keep on trusting in the goodness of God, and don’t get sucked into the sideshows around you who are competing for your attention and your affection.

Think about the many wonderful works which God has done for you in the past.

A beautiful past is the canvas for God painting a picture of what God can do in the present and future.

Notice the phrase-your thoughts towards us are more than be spoken about or numbered! God thinks about His people in a way that is favorable and brings a smile to his face.

Waiting room tips (v. 16-17):

o Keep on seeking God while you are waiting.

o Focusing on your relationship with Jesus will bring about joy even in the most difficult circumstances.

o Recognize your need for God’s help.

o Keep on pressing into God until your waiting room turns into your celebration room!

o When you find yourself out of one waiting room and into the next, remember to start over in a fresh trust in the Lord.

Today’s Big Idea: The waiting room turns into a delivery room as you wait on the Lord with both anticipation and perseverance.

Action Steps (Applications):

1) Remember WHO you are waiting on—The Lord! If you are waiting on the Lord, this changed everything: Your waiting room becomes a delivery room.

2) Stay focused on Jesus while you’re waiting on God to move on your behalf.

3) Look up and remind yourself of God’s goodness even when you don’t feel like it.

Preview for next week: We will resume our study in the book of Acts. Read Acts 25 to prepare for next Sunday.

Food For Thought: Daniel 1

Pastor Mike Rowe, guest speaker

He (God) gives us the opportunity to take a stand. He gives us the opportunity to see Him work. He gives us the opportunity to serve.