Expecting the Best Requires Reflection

In our current series "Expect the Best" we looked at the challenge behind these verses yesterday:

Haggai 1:5-6 
⁵ Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways.
⁶ You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."

In the little book of Haggai in the Old Testament of the Bible, God says five times "Give careful thought to your ways." In this first mention of the phrase above, God wants us to think about why we never seem to have enough and we never seem to get ahead.  The people in this account seem to work really hard and yet are barely staying afloat.  

Do you ever feel that way?

Later in the passage, the Lord tells them that if they chose to put God FIRST in their lives that He would meet their needs.  This is something that we all struggle with, myself included, because there is always something pulling our attention away - sometimes really good things and sometimes really bad things  -  We seem to be well aware of the "bad" things that do this but even the good things can keep us from moving forward in our journey with God. 

God want us to all choose the best and Expect the Best from Him as we intentionally decide to give Him our best. 

Join us on Sunday at 10:30 at 58343 S. Apple Road, Osceola to learn more about how we can live these truths out together!

Expecting the Best!
Pastor Greg 

"Just Jesus" Reminders

We just completed the series "just Jesus" where we studied the power of Jesus in the seven sign miracles in the Gospel of John. 

John only shares 7 of the many miracles of Jesus (before the resurrection) in his gospel.  I believe that he does that for a purpose.   

His purpose: to show us the true power and authority of Jesus as God!  We often need to be reminded that we have a lot of distractions from what is really important - our real focus: "just Jesus"!

As a result, we spent seven weeks seeing that Jesus has power over:

• creation (he turned water to wine instantaneously)
• space and distance (he healed a kid from 15 miles away)
• time (he healed an invalid after 38 years)
• our resources (he fed over 15-20,000 people with 2 loaves of bread and 5 fish)
• the elements and our fears (he walked on water and he assured the disciples of his presence)
• any human limitation (he healed a man who was born blind)
• death - both physical and spiritual (he raised a man that was dead for 4 days)

Yesterday, one of our elders, Kevin Schreck, challenged us to live this journey of our spiritual lives being completely aware that Jesus wants to transform us and expects to transform us but we have a role in this - what do you want the fruit of your life to look like?  What do you want to be known for?  

In order for this to happen - Jesus expects you to begin NOW planting the right seeds of truth in your heart and mind in order for you to be transformed in you heart and thinking. 

Do you want to be more loving?   You start by beginning to understand the love that Jesus had for you and that God the Father had for you in sending his only Son to pay for your sins.  Read and memorize Scripture that helps you understand this.  John 3:16, Philippians 2:1-11, Romans 5:8.  This explains some of the depth of the love of God and can lead you to further passages - then begin praying about how this should affect your heart.

As you pray - ask God to show you how to love Him more and then how to love those around you more.   And then listen to His prompting and don't ignore the opportunities to love like Jesus would have loved - by serving others from a pure and loving heart! 

You can do this with any area in which you want to produce better and healthier fruit!  But as Kevin said - we have to have a soft heart - one that is willing to receive advice and instruction from others and from the Word of God!

• If you want more wisdom - then read Proverbs and listen to those who have been there before you.  Maybe read James 1:2-8.
• If you want patience - Look at examples of patience in the Bible - do a word search and find where to learn more about the patience and plan of God.
• If you want to manage your money better - then read through Proverbs and mark all the "money" verses.  Work on your understanding of whose it all is anyway and study what Jesus said about your money and things!  

Check out the Fruit of the Spirit (what we should look like) in Galatians 5:22-23 and see how you stack up - then start working on what to plant TODAY to improve the fruit LATER!

Remember - it is ALL about Jesus and just Jesus in our lives!!

A Survey to Which You Can Honestly Respond!

 Serving others.   

How do you feel about this?

Really, I am curious. 

Comment below as to what your immediate thought is about “SERVING OTHERS”. 

• Christ commanded it – but that does not mean we have to like it.
• Christ DID it – but, truth be told, we do not always REALLY want to model what Christ modeled.
•  Christ lived it out because it was a large part of his purpose for his arrival on the planet. (Philippians 2:6-7)

Regardless of all of that.  How do you feel about serving other people?  Seriously.

There are several approaches to this question so consider where you stand and who are you serving…

1. If you ARE NOT a Christ Follower and you have a chance to serve people that are non-church goers – How do you feel about serving them?
2. If you ARE NOT a Christ Follower and you a chance to serve people that are church goers and call themselves Christ followers – How do you feel about serving them?
3. If you ARE a Christ follower and you a chance to serve people that are non-church goers – How do you feel about serving them?
4. If you ARE a Christ follower and you a chance to serve people that are church goers and call themselves fellow Christ followers – How do you feel about serving them?

Answer the two questions above that are true of you and relate to people whom you could be serving.

I want to remind myself and my readers of what the Word of God says about “Serving Others”  but I am interested in your responses first!

I know how I feel about it and I know how I have felt about it.  

I want to hear from you.

Does God Answer Prayer (Part 3)

I feel the need to answer two common reasons why people don't pray:  

• I feel like prayer is not for me
• I don't have time to pray - I am so busy

For those who feel like prayer is not for them - I simply have to say that Jesus Christ spent a great deal of time in prayer (you can see this as you read through the gospels - especially Mark and John) and Jesus was God in the flesh!  

He felt compelled to pray to stay in a close relationship with His Heavenly Father.   So as imitators of Jesus - this should be a large part of our lives and should help us to stay in tune with our Heavenly Father!  

Additionally, the Word of God teaches us that our prayer is a fragrant and pleasant aroma to God.  He enjoys them as he would enjoy a pleasant smelling candle!

In answer to the idea that you are too busy to pray - I want to propose that maybe you just see no value in it therefore you choose not to do it.  

I find a principle to be so true in my life and in the lives of those I spend much time around.  This is the principle:

You find time, in fact, you MAKE time, for what is important to you!

When something seems to be of value to me or seems to be important. I make time to see it happen. My wife is important to me - therefore, I make time to spend time with her.  I put many things of lesser value aside to be with my bride!  I say "NO" to many things in order for Cari and I to be together and enjoy activities together!

I thoroughly enjoy hunting and being outdoors.  When the right seasons come around. I adjust my schedules as much as possible to spend time in the woods enjoying the beauty of the creation of God while hunting for food!

I completely love that I actually get paid to spend time leading the Osceola Grace family.  I know that ministry has its struggles but it has so many more rewards as we grow together and see others come to faith in Jesus and choose to follow Him with their lives! 

Therefore - I want to make time in my schedule for people.  To pour into them and to encourage them and to do life together with them!

We have time for what is important to us.

Sometimes when my son, Clint, hears someone say something that he thinks may not be completely true or an exaggeration he says, 

"I am callin' Shenanigans!"  

That means that he is saying that he does not believe you and there is more to the story or you are just not being honest.  It is sort of like saying - "Prove it!"  Because if he calls "Shenanigans" on you he then expects you to do what you say.

So, if you say that you are not praying because you are too busy then I want to call "Shenanigans" on you.  

I would like you to prove to me that you are too busy - that you do not have any time in your schedule to spend some time praying.  Because if we look at your schedule and find that there are not extra minutes in the day for you to pray - I will help you say "NO" to a few things so that you can say "YES" to a personal conversation with the God of the Universe - Your Heavenly Father - who wants to hear from you. In fact, He longs to hear from you!

Don't waste time doing all of the busy work - get to your knees and pray to God!

Does God Answer Prayer (Part 2)

"I don't know how to pray"

I have heard some people describe their reason for not praying in that sentence.  Some, in a group setting, will also say, "I do not know how to pray out loud."

I believe that there are a couple of solutions to this:

• Read some prayers of the Bible and use them as a template for learning how to pray.
• The first time you are praying out loud in a group or alone - read a prayer from the Bible and then re-frame or rephrase it to communicate your personal thoughts to God.
•  Write out your thoughts:
• like how you are feeling toward God, (psalm 31)
• a praise to Him, (Ps. 19, Ps.145-150)
• a request of Him, (Ps 54, 130, 143)
• a thankful statement to Him, (Ps 107, 136)
• a confession to Him, (Ps 51) 
• a fear that you want to admit to Him, (Ps 13)
• a characteristic of Him that you know to be true (Ps 111) 
• something that you read in His Word you want to affirm to Him (Ps 108)
• THEN read those to Him aloud.  

No one said that this is easy but what I have found is that when I talk to God, (and yes, I talk out loud to Him a lot) I find that it is like talking to someone that I really trust who will hear what I say and what I MEAN to say.  I try to speak with respect toward Him as I pray to Him.  I want to honor Him with my words and my heart as I pray.

What about if I am angry at Him for something that happened that I do not understand or agree with?

I have shouted at God in my frustration before - I have been mad about some things that have happened that I thought were unfair.   I have felt like He could have fixed it or at least controlled it and yet the outcome was not according to my expectations.   So I told Him.  Honestly, it did not make me feel any better. But  I was able to vocalize what was really on my heart and after I said it aloud to Him, I began to let it go. 

I truly believe that we must speak out loud to God  - it helps me to hear what I am saying.  It helps me to understand my heart a little more.  It sometimes sounds really silly or outrageous once I have said it out loud and then I realize that my mind has been holding me captive on some crazy, wrong thinking. 

What I love about praying out loud to God (in a group or alone) is that I get to articulate what is in my heart and then I get to let God sort out the right from the wrong. 

Try it.  

Today.

Right now.

Take a minute and tell God something out loud that you have wanted to say for a long time.  

How does it sound?

Probably not as crazy as you once thought! Right?

Next week - Part 3 "Does God Answer Prayer?" 

I want to share with you some examples of Bible prayers - you can read them and pray them back to God!

Does God answer prayer? (part 1)

Is your prayer life filled with POWER and EFFECTIVENESS?  

James said that "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective".  

Things I hear from people about prayer:

• I do not know how to pray - I ask God for things and they do not happen
• I read the Bible but praying isn't for me.
• I do not have time to pray because I am too busy with life.
• I don't pray because I don't feel like God is listening. 

This is the first of several blogs to address these issues from the experience of many people that have gone on before and from the Word of God. 

But first:

Can I share with you about a group of people that are wrestling in prayer each week for Osceola Grace and our community?

Each Wednesday night in the church office after the Driven Student Ministry and Highway 180 begin, a group of us meets to look at a principle of prayer from the Word of God and then we spend time praying.  

We don't take a lot of time collecting prayer requests - we spend time praying for what is on our hearts and whatever God has laid upon our hearts that week  - we pray and pray and pray.  

We want to see God move and praying together has helped us to catch the vision for what God can do!  

We have seen God moving!

• We prayed for visitors and we have seen more people that need more of Jesus in their life 
• We prayed for community and we are seeing relationships develop
• We pray for lives to be changed and I just heard of someone turning over their life to Jesus Christ for real last week and I hear many stories of people that are planting seeds of the gospel in their fields each week.
• We ask God for joy and contentment while we wait upon him and he gives it!
• We ask him for more passion to pray and we experience it.
• We ask for forgiveness and he grants it
• We ask for more people to pray and he has been bringing more in.  

God is in the business of answering prayer - If you want to be a part of the prayer movement at Osceola Grace then join us at 7pm.

• I have found that my heart is changed as we pray for others.
• I have found that I experience a humility and brokenness before God as we pray together and I hear others share their hearts with God.
• I have found that I am more sensitive to the sin in my life 
• I have discovered a more compassionate place in my heart for others. 

God is changing me as I have the chance to pray for others - it just reminds me that it is not about me at all!

Wrestle with us - Wednesdays at 7PM.

Stay tuned for the the rest of this series "Does God Answer Prayer?" 

Blogging With Purpose

I am not a consistent blogger.
There - I said it and for the nine of you that read my blog - you already know this!
However, I am committed to changing that pattern because I want to increase the impact of sharing how God works in our lives as believers.
 
It is my hope and prayer that God will use my musings to motivate people to be:

• more fervent in their personal prayer life
• more passionate to serve others - in and out of the church
• more intense in their "farming" efforts to plant seeds of the gospel and see a harvest 

So - I will schedule this into my routine - like I am scheduling the above items into it also!

I have discovered that my prayer life is the key to seeing God move.  Truthfully, it is not so much the key to seeing Him move but it is the motivating and driving force in my life to watch Him move and to know when and where He is moving! 

 

I do not pretend to think that by my prayer - God decides to act.  But I do know that the more that I intentionally pray and the more that I let God speak to my heart through listening to His Spirit, I tend to find myself in the right places at the right time to be His instrument!

Second - I have also discovered that I get a great joy out of serving others.  I have found that those that I know who follow God the closest and most wholeheartedly also serve others and lift them up before themselves!

Third - When the first two things are happening - I find that I am more bold in noticing opportunities and speaking into people's hearts about what an amazing God I get to serve.  In other words: When I pray regularly and stay in tune with God's Spirit in me AND when I look for ways to serve others first, I run head long into chances to share about God and to plant the seeds of the gospel.  Lately, it has happened more and more often.

Rather than sit and regret what could have been - I am excited about what is!

I hope to share with you the importance of building your schedule around prayer, service and farming!

What can you do today?

• Start praying and asking God to open your eyes to what He has for you (every day)
• Start looking for people that you could help (invest some time)
• Start thinking about what God has accomplished in you and think about how to verbalize that to others!

Train like you want some results other than what you have always been getting!