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Advent 2.0: Accuracy + Humility

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Need help getting your heart ready for Christmas? Grab your Bible and learn from Pastor James in this new teaching on the perfect Accuracy and awesome Humility of our Savior, who loves you exactly where you are…

His new series, “Advent 2.0 | Four New Christmas Words” is a fresh take on the timeless Christmas story, straight from God’s Word.

Why Are You Here?

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2, esv).

Do you know why you’re here? On earth? Have you thought much about that lately?

At this point in history, it’s easy to just skim information, watch random video clips, or amuse ourselves with whatever’s trending. The Bible, however, speaks of inescapable realities that are much more important than whatever’s streaming on your device at the moment.

Such as, Why are you here? Do you know? Because that’s what matters. And that’s what God’s Word is here to show you.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” This single verse, though perhaps not a direct answer to that question, gives us clues as to why we’re here. It indicates that we are not here just for laughs, to run a successful business, to become well-known or famous, or to earn a name for ourselves. We are here for purposes that require us to go through a lifetime of challenges and tight spots—“trials of various kinds”—so that we can display the superiority of life lived in God.

Mind if I say that one more time? We are here to display the superiority of the life lived in God. That’s a really important sentence. Because as you know, trials and troubles come to all people. They’re a part of everyone’s life. But in how many people do those same trials and troubles produce . . . “joy”?

Joy is not normal. Joy is supernatural. You can’t craft it in your basement or create it through an experience of hard work or pleasure. Joy is something you can only get from God. Therefore, unlike those who don’t know Him or don’t have a genuine faith in Him, believers in Christ are the only ones supernaturally equipped to walk through “trials of various kinds,” generating “joy” in the process.

• Joy—a supernatural delight in the person of God, the purposes of God, and the people of God.
• Joy—springing up from a genuine worship of His grace, perfection, beauty, love, power, and goodness.
• Joy—born of realizing that He is doing something awesome around you all the time, even when you can’t see it or feel it.

That’s why even Christians get cancer. That’s why even Christians go bankrupt. That’s why even Christians can have prodigal kids, suffer chronic back pain, receive rejection letters in the mail, and get into accidents on the freeway. God allows us to face and feel the same things that people who don’t know Him experience, so that we can put on display the joyful distinction of what it means to be His child—what it means to live with hope and eternal perspective.

So press your mind down on that. Think about it hard today. In light of what’s happening to you right now, and in light of why you’re here, what can you do in this moment to best display the superiority of life with God?

Journal

• Who has demonstrated more joy through trials than anyone else you know? How has their example impacted you?
• What are your best opportunities today for displaying joy to others?

Pray
Lord, thank You for Your Word that helps me understand what’s often so hard to understand. Thank You for making joy an available option for me—at all times, in all situations. Use me today, through whatever pathway You know is best, to be a conduit of this joy to others. Make my life an invitation for them to draw near to You and experience what You alone can give. In Jesus’ name, amen.

5 Truths for Troubled Hearts

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If your heart isn’t troubled today – it likely will be at some time in the future.And the safest place for you to be is in God’s will. In fact, there is no relief outside of His will.With God, in spite of what you may see or feel, it’s not over until He says it’s over because our reality is found solely in what God says. Find rest in John 11:1-27 as we examine 5 truths about thee way God loves.

5 Truths for Troubled Hearts
John 11:1-27

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Determined To Conquer Opposition

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When you attempt to do something for God with your life, you will experience opposition. Don’t stop working. When verbal opposition grows personal and harmful, tell God what you need and why. When verbal becomes active opposition, it will affect others. Don’t stop working. Opposition isn’t a detour. It is a part of achieving God’s mission for your life.

Nehemiah 4

Determined To Conquer Opposition
Nehemiah 4

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Determined To Do My Part

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Live from the Holy Land, Pastor James leads us through Nehemiah chapter 3. Have you ever stopped to consider exactly who contributed to the rebuilding project? The list is important because every servant of God matters to God. And if you find yourself facing a difficult task, with God’s help you will find a way forward. Big things can happen when we work together.



Nehemiah 3

Determined To Do My Part
Nehemiah 3

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Determined To Achieve

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Each of us has a natural inclination toward being or doing.If you’re more of a being person, maybe you like sitting, savoring, and seeking – you’re content just being.You might lean more toward delegation, determination, and duty – you’re all about accomplishing. You’re a doer.While both of these matter in their appropriate setting, none of the doing is worth doing if it’s not growing out of the being.In Nehemiah chapter 2, we will take a candid assessment of where we are and make a plan for where we are going.

Nehemiah 2

Determined To Achieve
Nehemiah 2

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Determined To Care

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In a world of quitters, God’s people are determined. And their determination reveals itself in many aspects of a believer’s life – especially in how they care. There are things yet undone that God wants accomplished in the world you live in. Do you care? There is no ministry that is not deeply connected to caring for people.

Nehemiah 1

Determined To Care
Nehemiah 1

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Closer

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As Christians, our greatest motivation is “The Day.” The Day will cause all other days to pale in comparison – and there are a few things you should know about The Day before it arrives. Every day – we pitch our tents one day’s march closer to eternity. How will you fair?

I Corinthians 3:11-15

Closer
I Corinthians 3:11-15

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My Way or the Higher Way

Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it” (John 18:11, nasb)?

“When the going gets tough . . .”

What happens next? “The tough get going,” right?

I suppose this partially explains why Peter, a fisherman, happened to be packing a sword in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night when Jesus was betrayed. You remember the story—how he rushed to his Master’s defense, how he hacked off an ear from one of the high priest’s security detail.

That’s how we typically react to situations we perceive as injustices. That’s how we typically respond to threats against our well-being or against that of our children and family. When faced with opposition, our tendency is to rely on the flesh—on our own strength, wits, and ingenuity—rather than seek and trust God’s greater plans for why He would lead us into such a difficult spot.

This may be how we do it. It may be how Peter did it. But it’s sure not how Jesus did it.

Jesus, we know, was facing opposition that night as well—a level of opposition no other person could ever know or endure, one that dwarfed whatever sense of dread or discomfort Peter and the other disciples were experiencing.

There in the tense darkness, Jesus had been on His face, praying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39, esv). The cup represented the wrath of Almighty God for all sin, for all time. The cup represented your sin and my sin—not His sin but our sin—sin that required the Sinless to go to such brutal extremes of sacrifice. It represented spiritual suffering of unparalleled proportions, not to mention horrific physical torture that was about to take place.

And He knew everything that was coming. Having full power, He also could have stopped it. He was in an authoritative position to walk away unscathed from the awful demands of the hour.

Instead, He looked into the frothing terror of that cup and fully surrendered to it. “The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”

That’s what the truly tough do. They surrender while others are fighting. They pray while others are sleeping. They say things we might never say (and don’t say things we would), because they refuse to fold under what is seen, and they refuse to rely on human logic or strength alone when facing what God has chosen to do in their lives.

Peter’s agenda all along had been to prevent Jesus’ death by any means possible. When Jesus had spoken of it earlier, Peter had shot back, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you” (Matthew 16:22). But Jesus rebuked him then, same as He rebuked him later in the garden, “You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:23). Peter thought the goal was survival. But the goal, as always, was surrender.

If you’re standing today in the face of opposition—whether to a person or circumstance, or to a looming dilemma contradicting what you want in life—how are you choosing to handle it? You likely just want it to end, but God wants His will accomplished. You probably despise its intrusion, but God is using it to humble and shape you, to put you in position for being a workable part of His plan.

Don’t fight it. You’re tougher than that.

Surrender.

Journal

• Describe the difference between surrendering to the people and things around you, versus surrendering to the Lord.
• What circumstance is creating the opportunity for you to submit to a difficult surrender right now? How can you handle it Jesus’ way?

Pray
Father, thank You for the example of Your Son in helping me see how to stand up to life’s most difficult challenges. Thank You for continually proving to my heart what Your Word says: that You are trustworthy, and that surrender to You is always the best way, no matter the cost. I commit to You my fears and feelings surrounding the struggles I’m facing most intensely today. I invite You to do what You desire in me, and I ask You to grant me a heart of glad submission. I pray these things in the name of the One who surrendered at the highest cost possible—my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

5 Reasons To Forgive

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God accepts no love from human hearts that are gripped by hate.
In Vertical Living, we have come to discover from God’s word that mercy halts offense by withholding and grace limits offense by covering. In this sermon, we will see how forgiveness ends offense by releasing. While there are many rationalizations for our unforgiveness – Scripture offers a roadmap for the vehicle of forgiveness which leads to freedom from self incarceration and a lifetime of bitterness.


Matthew 6:14-15,18:21-35

5 Reasons To Forgive | Vertical Living: [11]
Matthew 6:14-15,18:21-35

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