More Than Bread

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The early church faced unrelenting attacks, deep persecution, tragic losses, and from a human perspective unbeatable opponents. Yet, no matter what happened, they would not only bounce back, but in the hardest of chapters, they would overcome. The Word of God spread, followers of Jesus multiplied, communities were turned upside down, and the disciples were filled with joy.

They were so on fire for Jesus that they became a light for the whole world!

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Christ is the treasure above all treasures. He is worth everything you have. We go all-in for Jesus, because what we gain is of  infinitely greater value than what we give. The only logical response to Jesus is the all-in response. But I'll never forget, a time I was listening to a description of the parable of the treasure...and I sensed Jesus saying to me, "This is what I did. I gave up everything. I went all-in for you. You are my treasure."

The cross of Christ is the all-in want-to of God. Because of the all-in want-to of God, we are covered in his love. His love is dripping off of you. Pretend you never heard this before, because it's so outlandish, it's upside down radical. "The Almighty God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son so that we could live life fully and abundantly.

God is all-in for you and that's Good News!

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When I read Acts 13, I'm reminded that whenever we go on the mission of God, we step into a spiritual battle. There is darkness in this battle. It may be the darkness that comes in the bitterness of anger, the darkness that comes from depression, the darkness that descends upon a relationship when we just can't seem to find a way to forgive. It's the darkness of choices...that take us away from the light.

 Listen the battle's real. I've watched people's lives fill up with darkness. I've watched relationships fill up with darkness. I've watched neighborhoods fill up with darkness. It's real and sometimes the first steps into darkness are so small.

But when darkness comes, God is close. When darkness falls, heaven is not far. So stand in the battle, that's the call. Don't quit. Don't quit. Do not quit. In the end light wins.

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In Acts 12, after all the difficulty, all the persecution, and all the battle that was thrown at the early church, in the end the WORD of God flourished and continued to spread. Why? Well at least in part because of prayer. That was our focus in the last episode. We said you could chart the growth of the early church by their prayer meetings. In this episode we’re going to keep talking about prayer meetings, but perhaps with a bit more focus on the meeting part. See something happened when they gathered for prayer that didn’t happen in the same way when it was just one person praying…and don’t hear what I’m not saying, one person praying matters to God.

 But something happens when we gather for prayer.

The fire spreads and we burn better together!

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You can chart the growth of the early church by it's prayer meetings. Something bad would happen, but they they prayed. It looked like they were down and out, but then their prayers went up and in. I bet 80% of us say we believe in prayer. We believe it's important, so why don't we pray? Of course, almost everyone sends up a brief prayer from time to time, but I'm not talking about the occasional, "if you have a moment can you help me God" prayers. 

I'm talking about church of Acts prayer. They had a prayer meeting and the church grew.  They had a prayer meeting and God renewed their courage.  They had a prayer meeting and wondrous miracles took place. They had a prayer meeting and the fundamental realities of life were transformed. I'm talking about that kind of prayer. Prayer was their first response. At every opportunity they turned to prayer. 

I'm talking about that kind of prayer.

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Memorial Day is a day to remember those who gave their lives defending our freedom. So how do we honor their sacrifice? I wonder if the best way to honor their sacrifice is found in Matthew 5 and Isaiah 58 both of which contain a call to shine.

You are the light of the world, so shine! You are the light of the world, so shine. Bring light to the darkness, shine! You may feel like you're only one little candle, but when you shine, you can light another candle,  so shine! The world needs the light of your life filled with the Spirit of Christ!

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Acts 12:1-5 is a good reminder that when we become part of the mission of Jesus, we enter into a spiritual battle. Don't be discouraged when we face defeat and darkness in our spiritual lives...it's a battle. When relationships tank...don't be caught off guard, it's the enemy's strategy to divide and conquer. The gospel is a real-life, epic story and every epic story has a villan in the battle between good and evil. When we are invited  into the Kingdom we are invited into this battle. 

Perhaps one of the great problems for our movement today is that for the last few  decades the invitation to follow Jesus has read more like a travel agency brochure than an enlistment campaign. Rarely do we hear, "Come follow Jesus and enlist in the battle against evil, for good. Come fight for the heart of your King or die trying."

I'm praying that Jesus would make us dangerous!

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There is a surprising amount of research on this. Gender  has no impact on happiness.  Weather has no impact on happiness. You have just as much potential for happiness under the cloudy skies of State College as you do in the sun of San Diego! Research suggests that happiness has its source in things like, volunteering, giving blood, serving others, helping your neighbors, and being generous with your finances. 

Jesus once said that where our treasures are, our hearts will follow. That means that generosity is the journey of hearts saturated with heaven! How is your generosity?

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You can use a hand for many things; fight, discipline, shake hands, or hug. You can hold someone up. You can bless them. But nothing will empower us and change us and help us turn the world upside down like having the gracious hand of God upon us. The gracious hand of God is nitro fuel for our tank. It's the hand that takes the wheel when we can't see the way and pulls us out of the ditch when we've gone the wrong way. The phrase can be found in many places in scripture, including Acts 11.  But one of my favorite places is in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.  Nehemiah is summarizing an amazing story of God at work with the words, "And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests."  

The goal is not simply "more prayer." The goal is to be a people upon whom, the gracious hand of God rests.

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In this episode as we look at Luke 11, we will pause to ponder two things that we can do,  every single one of us can do these two things and they will make a huge difference in our life and the lives of others. The more we do these two things, the more the gracious hand of God will be upon us! What two things? Repentance and Encouragement.