Live Life with Eternal Significance

Focus: God has given us everything we need to live lives of eternal significance.

I. It begins with KNOWING GOD
Don't do life alone
Do first things first

II. It involves living a life which you FOCUS on making Him KNOWN to others.
Saved people serve people
Followers say follow me

What steps can you take today and this week that will have eternal significance?

Do First Things First

The Point of Our Steps Series
Jim Hammond

Focus: Do First Things First and everything that needs to be done will be done; do other things first if you want important things to be undone.

I. "First" means MOST IMPORTANT
Matthew 22:34-40

II. Transformation begins in the HEART
Matthew 6:33

A. What you treasure will CONTROL your HEART
Matthew 6:19-23

B. What controls your heart will CONTROL YOU
Matthew 6:24

C. This is not one BATTLE; This is THE BATTLE
2 Corinthians 5:15

Everyone Has A Next Step

John 5:1-9

The Healing at the Pool
5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,

Focus: There is nobody on earth so far from God that they cannot take steps toward God, and there is nobody on earth so close to God that they are grace graduates with no steps to take.

I. Steps for a SKEPTIC

• John7:16-17
• Matthew7:7-83

II. GOD wants to WALK with you

• Leviticus 25:12
• Galations 5:25
• 1 Peter 2:21

III. Take your next step WITH GOD

• With God's GUIDANCE 
• Galations 6:7-8
• With God's HELP

The Point of Our Steps: Find Your Why

Focus: Do you know why you do what you do?

• Matthew 10:39
  

I. Why do we (VVCC) do what we do?

• Tradition, denomination, Bible believing
  
• Philippians 2:2-5
• USA - churches are shrinking
  

II. Why did God do what He did?

• John 3:16
• Philippians 2:2-11

III. Find your WHY and connect WHO to a WHERE

Active Disciplines

Focus: Spiritual disciplines will help you experience "the life you have always wanted."

Romans 8:5-8 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

I. Worship

II. Service

What's my next step?

The Life You've Always Wanted: Train for It

Philippians 2:12-13
Colossians 3:1-17

Focus: There is an immense difference between TRYING to do something versus TRAINING to do something.

I. We need a stronger MAGNET

II. We need MENTORS

III. We need to our habits MONITOR

In Crowd or 0ut Crowd?

Here to Heaven (Week 6)

John 15:18-27

What do I need to do when l experience hostility for what I believe?

I. REMEMBER

II. DECIDE where you want to FIT

III. Don't CLAM UP!

Servant or Friend?

Here to Heaven, Week 5

John 15:9-17

How would you define your relationship with God?

I. "Friend" is an UPGRADE from "Servant"

A. A servant OBEYS COMMANDS

B. But a friend SENSES love

C. A friendship OVERFLOWS with JOY

D. Jesus CONFIDES in His friends

E. Jesus CHOSE His friends

II. JOY is the mark of a true friendship:

True Grit or True Gift?

Here to Heaven Series Week 3

John 14:15-17

Is following Jesus difficult or easy?

I. Wrong Approach 1: "NO GRIT"

II. Wrong Approach 2: "NO GRIT" ALONE

III. Jesus offers AN AMAZING GQIFT 

IV. Who can RECEIVE this GIFT?

V. What do I need to do?

A. Say I DO. 

B. Make sure you're RECEPTIVE. 

One Way or Many Ways?

John 14:1-6

Jesus' Parting Words to His Disciples

 [14:1] “Do not let your hearts be distressed.1 You believe in God;2 believe also in me. [2] There are many dwelling places3 in my Father's house.4 Otherwise, I would have told you, because5 I am going away to make ready6 a place for you.

What do you make of the very exclusive claim of Jesus?

What is God like?

I. CONTRADICTING OPPOSITES cannot be the same 

II. The Way is NARROW 

John 10:9

I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out,21 and find pasture.

III. But the Room is HUGE!

Ice Cream or Arithmetic?

Here to Heaven 1 Series 

John 14:1-6

One college professor said the heart is for religion and the brain is for science.

NONRATIONAL - TRUTH

RATIONAL- 

VALUES - individual choices

FACTS - for everyone

PRIVATE - personal preference 

PUBLIC- scientific knowledge 

RELATIVE TRUTH- for particular groups

OBJECTIVE TRUTH- 

2 Tim 3:5

I. Faith is TRUST in something OBJECTIVE. 

John 14:1-6

II. Reality remains REAL whether I BELIEVE it or not.

III. Reality is not RELATIVE. 

Relativism is the idea that there is no absolute truth

Do you see the value of pursuing what is really real over merely pursing personal preferences 

Will you pursue what is really real... Not just 

My next step- I will investigate to see if God is really real. I will do this by investigating 

God or Fraud?

 John 20

Focus: Was Jesus God or fraud?

I. Every DISCIPLE was SKEPTICAL.

John 20:1-2, 3-10, 

II. What CONVINCED them?

John 20:11-18

What convinced Thomas?

John 20:19-25

III. What CONVINCED Me?

RESSURECTION

John 20:29-31

The Other Two Crosses

Text: Matthew 27:32-50; Mark 15:21-39; Luke 23:26-46; John 19:16-30

Focus: When God gave His Son, He gave us a choice. 

I. What did they SEE?

II. What did they HEAR?

III. Why did it only change one of them?

Get to the Heart of the Matter On Anxiety

Matthew 5:20, 6:25-34

Focus: CAST your cares into PRAYERS!

I. Use the other MASTER CARD!

II. Seek HIS KINGDOM First

III. Live ONE DAY at a TIME.

Posted with Blogsy by Mark Luffman

Get to the Heart of the Matter On Valuables

Matthew 5:20, 6:19-24

 

Focus: Treasure the treasures worth treasuring!

 

I. Treasure the INTANGIBLES

 

II. Train your HEART (DESIRES)...

 

A. ...to pursue REALITY

 

B. ...to choose LASTING TREASURES

 

C. ...to SEE true values

 

 

Posted with Blogsy by Mark Luffman

Get to the Heart of the Matter on Retaliation

Get to the Heart of the Matter on Retaliation

Apprentice II - Life on the Rock
Matthew 5:20, 38-48

Focus: There is never a good reason to be unkind.

The Kingdom Heart...
Luke 23:34
Acts 7:60

1. Doesn't RETALIATE
2. Goes ABOVE and BEYOND

3. Is surprisingly GENEROUS

4. Is MATURE, WHOLE, COMPLETE, FULL-GROWN