Eagle Ridge Church of God Sermons

Seeing the Unseen: The Suffering

Week 2

After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” John 3:2-3

If you are following Jesus, you can see what others cannot.

 John 13:14-15 , John 15:12 , Matthew 22:38-40 NLT

…so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:29 NLT

Luke 10:30-37 NLT

Who is my neighbor?

• The suffering among you.

How can we love them?

1. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you see them.
2. Enter their stories.
3. Allow the Holy Spirit to convict you.

Seeing the Unseen: The Persecuted Church

Week 1

John 3:2-3

If you are following Jesus, you can see what others cannot.

Matthew 6:32-34

You can see The Kingdom of God, His restoring work happening all around us.

Matthew 13:16-17

Seeing means I can join Jesus in his work.

Matthew 25:44-46

Seeing the persecuted Church.

1. The persecuted for Christ are already blessed.

Matthew 5:10-12

2. They teach us real faith.

Acts 8:1-8

(Video from Global Christian Relief…Beginning – 6:26)

3. They teach us how to love our enemies.

4. Persecution leads to revival and kingdom growth.

Revelation 2:8-11

How can we join them?

1. Seek to be informed.
2. Directed specific prayer.
3. Enter their stories.
4. Give as God directs.

Organization to follow:

· Open Doors USA (Add logo and website address)

· Global Christian Relief (“)

· Voice of the Martyrs (“)

Soul Food

Week 8: Recipes for Living Generously: Giving and Telling The Story

 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so thateveryone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16NLT

We are set free to experience generous character…

1.      Because we know we have been graciously adopted and made heirs.

Romans 8:15-17 NLT

2.    Because we give out of the overflow of God’s abundance.

• From scarcity thinking to abundance thinking. 

Philippians 2:4

3.    But generosity must be practiced not just understood if it is to feed our souls.

We practice generosity when we… give what we want possess.

Proverbs 3:9-10 (NIV), Mark 12:41-44 (NLT)

We practice generosity when we…tell our story of Jesus.

Matthew 10:11-13 (CEV)

Feed your soul:

1.    Confess the fear that keeps you from being generous and then entrust it to God.

2.    Ask God to tell you how to act generously from that place of fear.

Recipes for Generosity

 John 3:16; Proverbs 14:31 NLT

1. Practicing Gratitude

Feed your Soul & Develop a Character of Generosity

Practice Gratitude

Psalm 22:1-10

• Psalm it!

2. Practicing Forgiveness

Luke 23:34 NLT

Practice Forgiveness:

• Forgive in advance.
• Forgive them again.

Try Praying...

Out of obedience to God I am choosing to forgive this person for the fact they did to me. And whatever my feelings will not yet allow for, surely the blood of Jesus will cover.

•  Forgive as needed.

Pick a story to read this week:

1.       Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37

2.       Widow of Zarephath, 1 Kings 17:7-24

3.       The book of Jonah (4 chapters)

4.       Story of Joseph, Genesis chapters 37-47

5.       The book of Job (42 chapters)

Soul Food

Week 6: Recipes for Staying Grounded Prayer & Fasting

Psalm 40, Psalm 18:2

How do I approach prayer properly?

•  As if God is already close, I just need to reconnect.

 Psalm 116:9 , Psalm 16:11

•  Begin with humble gratitude

 Jonah 4:6

•  Turn off noise, both externally and internally. 

 Kings 19:9-13, Psalm 46:10

•  Imagine then focus on what is real, you in Jesus’ story

Matthew 6:7-13

Patterns for prayer that feed your soul ground your life:

• The Lord’s prayer
• A.C.T.S:

Adoration…Praise God for who he is

Confession…Agree with what God already knows

Thanksgiving…Praise him for what he has done and continues to do

Supplication…Ask him for what you need

1.     Quiet your body and focus your mind

2.    God how can you be so good?

3. Confess your…

• Desire for a self-directed life

• Sins of disobedience

4.    Taking neighbors need to God. 

 Add a new flavorful satisfying ingredient to your prayer pattern.

Fasting: emptying so we can be refilled

Matthew 4:1-2 & 11

“It's a voluntary, temporary reduction in comfort, so that we can redirect our spiritual energy to God. It is detaching from over-dependence on any good thing-even the very gifts of God which we are meant to enjoy (food, drink, entertainment, and so on)--so that we can, for a season, refocus the energy spent delighting toward hungering at a deeper level, even for the very presence of God himself.”  Learning to Live and Love like Jesus, Brandon Cook

Philippians 2:5-8

Feed your soul & ground your life:

1.    Without passing judgement evaluate your approach to prayer.

2.    If change is needed, try a new pattern.

3.    Open your heart to fasting as a way of grounding your life. 

Soul Food: A Recipe for Grounding

Week 5

Psalm 40

Grounding only occurs when what I am resting on is solid.Psalm 18:2

Solid ground is found only through trusting in Jesus.Matthew 7:24-29

Being grounded in Jesus comes primarily through scripture.2 Timothy 3:15-17

Scripture can’t ground us in Jesus unless we approach it properly.

…As a story of transformation.

…God coming close to us"But beyond the specific words she pointed to, I learned a broader lesson: my mom was teaching me that there is a reality beyond and distinct from the one between my ears. She was teaching me that even what I think and feel is not to be entirely trusted she was, ultimately, teaching me how to enter another story, and one in which there is hope, resource, and abundance. She was teaching me that, through scripture, I could learn to become aware of that story."

Learning to Live and Love like Jesus, Brandon Cook"Reading in a spiritual way is reading with a desire to let God come closer to us. The purpose of spiritual reading... Is not to master knowledge or information, but to let God's spirit master us. Strange as it may sound, spiritual reading means to let ourselves be read by God!"

Here and Now: Living in the Spirit, Henry NouwenJohn 5:39-40

…As something that demands persistent practice.

…As the foundation from which we can help others.

Feed your Soul!

• Commit to reading the Bible 4 days this week.

• Practice “Slow Reading”

Begin with simple prayer…”Holy Spirit speak to me through the scripture I am about to read. I am listening.”

1. Read passage slowly without stopping. After reading the last verse pause and reflect. What do you notice in your mind and in your body.

2. Read passage a 2nd time even more slowly. Notice words or phrases that jump off the page for you. Pause again and notice if you sense the presence of the Holy Spirit.

3. Read a 3rd time listening for the voice of Jesus speaking into your life.

End by capturing anything that you have noticed that is from Jesus for you.

Soul Food Series- Week 4

A Recipe for a Slow Life: Sabbath & Hospitality

Sabbath

Genesis 1:31-2:3

“Very simply, God was delighting. God beheld everything He had made, and it was good. The first Sabbath was an act of celebration.” -Brandon Cook, Learning to Live and Love Like Jesus, pg. 211

Exodus 20:8 & 11

• Sabbath is a command.

Matthew 12:11-12; Luke 6:3-5

• Sabbath is for us!

Mark 2:27

“Sabbath is a period of time dedicated to withdrawing from the normal activities of life and work in order to come back to our spiritual center, which is the place where we connect with God.” -Brandon Cook, Learning to Live and Love Like Jesus, pg. 202

• Sabbath is trust issue.

“We are meant to work from a place of rest, not the other way around.” -Brandon Cook, Learning to Live and Love Like Jesus, pg. 204

Hospitality

Romans 12:13; 1 Peter 4:9

• Hospitality is not optional.

• Hospitality is spending time with others and entering into their stories.

• To practice hospitality, you have to slow down.

Feed your Soul!

1. Confess your disobedience regarding Sabbath and Hospitality.
2. Plan a Sabbath time.

• I will practice Sabbath this week on this day: _________

3. Plan to meet with someone with an attitude of

hospitality.

• The person I will make plans to meet with is: __________

Soul Food: A Recipe for a Slow Life

Week 3

“The Slow Life is quite simply, the cornerstone of spiritual life and the foundation for all other spiritual practices. It creates space for us to see and connect with God. That allows Him to do the work of transforming us.”

Brandon Cook, Learning to Live and Love Like Jesus, pg. 160

"We must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives." Dallas Willard

Psalm 37:7a, Proverbs 19:2, Matthew 11:28-29

Symptoms of Hurried Sickness include:

• Plotting your next move (fastest lines at the grocery store or stop light).
• Increased irritability (especially with minor things).
• Decline in soul care (time with God in prayer, Bible, church).
• Decline in self-care (sleep, proper diet, exercise).

God is not concerned with what we have done but in what we have become.

Jesus’ Solution to Hurried Sickness:

He took time to rest, reflect, and seek the Father's direction many times in Scripture.Luke 6:12, Matthew 14:13, Mark 1:35

The second ingredient in the recipe for The Slow Life: Silence “Silence is about establishing time and space to encounter the reality of God.” – Brandon Cook, Learning to Live and Love Like Jesus, pg. 184

It should be to us, a time of communion, not a commandment.Habakkuk 2:20, Psalm 46:10a

Remember times of silence can be for contemplation and/or conversation. But they always require commitment.

Feed Your Soul!

1. The one thing I am going to take off my to-do list this week is _______________. 2. The place and time where I will experience some silent time is ______________. 3. The person I’m going to ask to hold me accountable is _________________.

Soul Food

Week 2: A Recipe for Dealing with Reality 

“When a man is driven to acts of obedience by the dread of God’s wrath revealed in the law and not drawn to them by the belief of His love revealed in the gospel; when he fears God because of His power and justice, and not because of His goodness; when he regards God more as an avenging Judge, than as a compassionate Friend and Father; and when he contemplates God rather as terrible in majesty than as infinite in grace and mercy; he shews that he is under the dominion, or at least under prevalence, of a legal spirit.”

17th century Scottish pastor John Colquhoun

Let’s be clear...

1.   Confession is agreeing with what God already knows.

 2.   Repentance is changing direction leaving one thing and pursuing something different.

I must confess and repent to unleash the power of “Soul Food.”

• It is about reality not fantasy

 “The right naming of things is the beginning of wisdom.” Chinese Proverb

“We cannot change what we are unaware of.”  Peter Scazzero

"Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do insecret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”  Ephesians 5:11-14

“Confession is always stepping out of fantasy and into reality.  Reality, as painful as it may be, is the only place in which freedom may be enjoyed.” 

Learning to Live and Love like Jesus Pg. 141

• God cannot transform what he is not allowed to touch.

"Then the Lord said to me, “Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah! Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the Lord says: “O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful.   I will not be angry with you forever. Only acknowledge your guilt.  Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree.  Confess that you refused to listen to my voice.  I, the Lord, have spoken! " Jeremiah 3:11-13

“The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”  Mark 1:15

• Confession & repentance are not simply about me.

“The end point of discipleship is loving others, so the humility posture of confession and repentance is the same posture by which we love and serve others.”  Learning to Live and Love like Jesus pg. 151

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.  James 5:16

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in thetruth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. 

1 John 1:8-10

Feed your soul:

1.    Pray 1 John 1:8-10

2.    Confess your sins to God right now.

3.    _____________ is someone with whom I can begin to be transparent?

Soul Food

Week 1: A Recipe for Change

 Galatians 5:22-23 

“A lot of people want to change and would answer yes to these questions, but many of them do not believe it is possible. After years of trying and failing, they lead a Christian life of quiet desperation, longing for change and yet certain it will never happen.  So they sit in their pews each week, sighing silently, resigned to their fate.”  (Good and Beautiful God pg. 19) 

Life change is not about trying harder it’s about…

The recipe for change includes the following 4 ingredients:

1.    Recognizing the wrong storyline & adopting the right one.

Romans 12:2 (NLT)

The wrong story about God and you:

• God is an angry judge
• God does not have my best interest at heart (He has another agenda)
• Love and forgiveness are exchanged for performance
• God only loves us when we are good
• God is mad about sin or simply doesn’t care about it.
• God will do something for me when I do something for him
• God views me as a sinner
• Stay busy and hurried and you’ll get to where you want to be

2.    Training your soul to eat right.

1 Corinthians 9:25-27, 1 Timothy 4:7-8

3.    Pursuing Community

Hebrews 10:24, John 14:26

4.   Holy Spirit directed & empowered

(Triangle diagram from Good and Beautiful God)

 Feed your soul!

The options are keep trying hard, feeling defeated and, give up and live for yourself, or pursue a new pattern that leads to life change. 

1.      Commit to tasting the different Soul Food in this series.

2.      Prepare to rest in Jesus and sleep.

3.      Pursue community in a bridge group or Come & See Class.