On Hold

Today I was driving to youth group with a friend, and while we were in the car she had her ear buds in and was talking with someone else over the phone. I thought to myself, "really?" Here I was wanting to have a heart to heart and the little time we do have to spend together apart from all the hussle of the week, you're not even going to put the phone down to really talk to me?

Then I had the sudden realization...God, is this how you feel sometimes... about ME?!?! Wow, what a wake up call and a convicting lesson. God's in the driver seat and He wants to navigate me through life's journey. I get caught up with things I need to get done, so I get off and deal with the hussle and bussle of things. Then when I do get to have some quiet one-on-one alone time with Him, I put Him on hold, and focus my attention on something else?!?!?! And the whole time God is just waiting there wanting to get to know me more and for me to want to get to know Him more as well! He's there wanting to know my heart and longing for me to want to know His heart too! He wants to feel valued, seen, loved & also has so much love and wisdom to pour out. When I was in the car, that is exactly how I felt. I wanted my friend to stop and take the time to deepen our relationship. I wanted to share and love on her and feel like I was valued and that I was worth knowing. This realization of what I've been doing to God these past weeks has really opened my eyes. It's time to say good bye to the distractions, put God off hold, and zone in on deepening our relationship.

Let God be Enough

That deep longing you have to be loved...that is the exact same way God feels. He longs to be loved, He longs for your love & He longs for you. In the chase to feel valued and loved in this world, let God be enough. He IS enough!!

Week 1 Day 4: The Branch

John 15:2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away."

Key idea: I a am branch of the Vine. I am to be like Christ, receive all I need from Him, and bear for Him the fruit He desires.

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, I want to be like You. I want to be a fruitful branch, not one that is cast away. Make me a fruit-bearing branch.

- a vine needs branches, without branches it can bear no fruit
- a branch is simply a bit of wood brought forth by the vine for 1 purpose- serving it in bearing it's fruit; it is of the very same nature as the vine and has 1 life & 1 spirit with it

Lessons of the Vine & Branches

1) Entire consecration: the state of being fully devoted to God for His purposes
o branch has one object- to bear fruit the vine is intended to bear


2) Perfect conformity
o branch is exactly like the vine in every aspect- same nature, same life, same place, same work
o branch & vine inseparably one; believer needs to know he is a partaker of the divine nature
o only difference: one is great and strong and the source of strength, the other is little and feeble, always needing & receiving strength
o even so, the believer is & is to be the perfect likeness of Christ

Romans 8:29
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

Qualities of Christ
- loving
- patient
- obedient
-gentle
- good
- humble
- forgiving
- kind
- peaceful
- faithful
- strong
- joyful

3) Absolute dependence
o the vines has stores of life & strength- not for itself but for its branches
o branches have nothing but what the vine provides
o believer called to enter a life of entire & unceasing dependence on Christ

Which of the following statements best describes you dependence on the Vine?

__ I have my own strengths. I need the Vine only to fill in the weak spots.
__ I am dependent on the Vine for life and everything I need.

4) Undoubting confidence
o the vine provides all, branch only has to yield itself and receive
o this truth => blesses rest of faith, genuine secret of growth & strength:
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13)

- you only have one things to do: just be a branch- nothing more and nothing less. Just be a branch; Christ will be the Vine who provides all. And the Vinedresser, the might God, who made the Vine what it is, will surely make the branch what it ought to be.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, reveal to me the heavenly mystery of the branch in its living union with the Vine, in its claim on all its fullness. And let You all-sufficiency, holding and filling Your branches, lead me to the rest of faith that knows You work out all things.

Week 1 Day 3- The Vinedresser

John 15:1 "My Father is the vinedresser"

Key Idea: God the Father is my heavenly Vinedresser. I am dependent on Him for all I am to be as a branch, and I can have complete confidence in Him to do His work in and through me.

Prayer: Father, You are the One who takes care of the vine and its branches. Be to me all You know I need.

- Vine must have vinedresser to plant & watch over it, to receive and rejoice in its fruit
- Jesus was the true Vine God planted, all Jesus was He owed to the Father, in all He did He sought to glorify the Father
- Jesus wants us to have the same relationship with God, Jesus's relationship with the Creator, models how our relationship with Him should be
- In regard to Christ & ourselves, the word teaches us 2 lessons: 1) absolute dependence 2) perfect confidence

- Christ lived ever in the spirit of "The Son can do nothing of Himself" (John 5:19)
- Christ felt Himself entirely dependent on the Father every day for the wisdom & strength to do the Father's will; "The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works" (John 14:10)
- absolute dependence has blessed counterpart- confidence that He had nothing to fear, the Father could not disappoint Him

- "My Father is the vinedresser." Before Jesus even spoke about branches at all, He turned our eyes heavenward to the Father
- root of Christian life lies in the thought that God is to do all, our work is to give & leave ourselves in His hands; confess utter helplessness & dependence in confidence that He gives all we need
- as Jesus trusted God, let's trust God as those who belong to the Vine, trusting everything we ought to be and have will be given to us from God above

How would you describe your dependence on God? Check one or write your own.

__ I am dependent on God only when I can't work things out for myself
__ I know I should be completely dependent on God, but I am struggling to let go and trust Him as He desires
__ I am giving myself over to God in absolute dependence and have great confidence that He will provide all I need
__ Other:

*Pray that the Lord will help you learn to be completely dependent on Him and to experience perfect confidence in Him

Philippians 2:13
For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

- As surely as the Vinedresser made Jesus the Vine what He was to be, the Vinedresser will make each branch what it is to be
- He is the guarantee for our growth and fruitfulness

Notes from What is the Gospel? by Great Gilber, Part 2: Man the Sinner

Notes:

- Sin is not just some impersonal, arbitrary, heavenly regulation

- Sin => breaking of a relationship, rejection of God himself- His rule, His care, His authority, His right to command those whom He gave life

What Went Wrong

- God's intention for creating human beings- they live under His righteous rule in perfect joy, worshipping, obeying Him, living in unbroken fellowship with Him

- God had job for humans Genesis 1:28 God blessed them; and God said, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

- Adam & Eve's rule over creation x ultimate, authority give to them by God

- God placed tree of knowledge of good and evil in center of garden => reminder authority limited, they were creatures, dependent on God for their lives

• when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit X just violate arbitrary command but rejected God's authority over them, declaring independence from Him ex. Potter made a jar, jar says "I reject you as my creator! You don't have the right to use me for your will."
• Serpent promised that they would be "like God"- both took opportunity to take crown for themselves, made conscious decision to reject Him as King

- Genesis 2:17 But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

• disobedience=sin= death
• x just physical, but spiritual death- cast from presence of God, become enemies of God vs. friends & joyful subjects
• sin: literally means "missing the mark," but biblical meaning much deeper; Adam  & Eve x just miss bulls-eye by few inches, but shot arrow in opposite direction; had goals & desires opposed to God's

Not Just Them, But Us

- Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

- crucial we understand both nature & depth of our sin' x approach gospel thinking sin is something else/ less than what it really is => badly misunderstand gospel

Confusing Sin with Sin's Effects

- fashionable lately to say Jesus came to save humanity from innate sense of guilt/ meaninglessness/ emptiness/ purposelessness

- but Bible teachers humanity's fundamental problem x above- just symptoms of deeper problem: our sin

- we are in predicament of own making- have disobeyed God's word, ignored commands, sinned against him

Reducing Sin to Broken Relationship

- human beings made to live in fellowship with God- specific kind of relationship- btwn. King & His subjects

- sin x just relationship tiff between man & God x just lover's quarrel

- Bible teaches sin is breaking of relationship- consist of rejection of His majesty

- x just adultery but rebellion; x just betrayal but treason; sin- traitorous rebellion of beloved subject against good and righteous King

Confusing Sin with Negative Thinking

- sin x just matter of negative thinking holding back from health, wealth & happiness

- Bible teachers big part of problem- we think too highly of ourselves x too lowly

- *How did serpent tempt Adam & Eve?- told them they thought too neg of themselves, needed to think more pos., extend grasp to reach full potential...to be like God- told them to think bigger

(be careful of when you work toward self-improvement, check your heart to make sure you aren't doing it to make yourself bigger, but to glorify God in all that you do, okay?:])

Confusing Sin with Sins
- sin x isolated little mistakes inn otherwise pretty good life
- God shows us sin runs to very depths of our hearts, deep-running deposits of filth & corruption x even knew & we ourselves x expunge
- Bible says sin is not just on us or of us, but in us
- Ephesians 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
- Matthew 15:19- "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders."
- sin x isolated incidences, but rise out of evil from our own hearts
- Romans 8:7 Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does nor subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.
- only when we realize our very nature is sinful- we see how good the good news is!

God's Active Judgment against Sin
- one of Bible's most frightening statements- Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God
- What would it be like to stand before God in the end w/ no explanation/ plea to escape punishment for sin?
- God is holy and righteous x excuse sin, God will punish us for sin with death
- Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death- physical & spiritual death- separation from presence of Holy God
- Bible says final destiny for unrepentant, unbelieving sinners- place of eternal torment "hell"
- Rev 20:10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
- Mark 9:42 "If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having you two hands, to go to hell; into the unquenchable fire,
- Bible's sobering verdict on us- There is not one righteous, not eve one. Because of that one day every mouth will be silenced & whole world will be help accountable to God for their sin, BUT...

Job & Hard times

I've been reading the beginning of Job and it has really resonated in my heart. Sometimes we face immeasurably painful things, and we don't understand why. But sometimes God allows us to go through struggles, because without it our faith wouldn't be able to grow. So if you are facing hard times, please hold onto God. Trust that He knows what He is doing and be confident in that His purpose will be fulfilled through these difficult times. Know that no matter what you go through, there is one reality that this world cannot take away- God's love for us!

Job 2:10
But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Notes from NASB Life Application Study Bible Job 1-4

Job 1
- we must experience life as Job did- 1 day at a time & w/o complete answers to all of life's questions/
- Will we, like Job, trust God no matter what? Or will we give into the temptation to say God doesn't really care?
- faith in God is justified even when our situations look hopeless; Faith based on rewards/ prosperity is hollow; unshakable faith- must be built on confidence that God's ultimate purpose will come to pass
- Satan is limited by God's power and can do only what he is permitted to do, Satan can do nothing w/o God's permission; God's people can overcome his attacks through God's power!
- Although God loves us, believing and obeying Him do not shelter us from life's calamities
- how do you respond in times of trouble? Do you ask God, "Why me?" or do you say, "Use me!"?
- put roots of your faith down deep into God so you can withstand any storm you face

Job 2
- God created our emotions, and it's not sinful/ inappropriate to express them as Job did
- message of Job: you should not give up on God because He allows you to have bad experiences
- God is capable of rescuing us from suffering, but He may also allow suffering to come for reasons we can't understand; if we always knew why we were suffering, our faith would have no room to grow!

Job 3
- When someone is in need, go to that person, but be sensitive in how you comfort him or her
- Often, we feel we must say something spiritual and insightful to a hurting friend, but maybe what he/she needs most is just our presence, showing that we care- empathetic silence & loving companionship
- We must hold onto our faith even if there is no relief
- Job driven back to basics of faith- 2 choices: 1) He could curse God and give up, or 2) he could trust God and draw strength from Him to continue, what will yours be?
- trials and grief, whether temporary of enduring, do not destroy real purpose of life; life x merely for happiness & personal fulfillment, but to serve and honor God
- worth and meaning of life x based on what we feel, but on 1 reality no on can take away- God's love for us! (Romans 8:38-39)

Job 4
- Eliphaz- some good comments, but 3 wrong assumptions 1) a good and innocent person never suffers 2) those who suffer are being punished for past sins 3) Job, because he was suffering, had done something wrong in God's eyes
- true that those who promote sin and trouble eventually will be punished; it is false that anyone who is good and innocent will never suffer
- Bible gives us teachings and examples of what we should do as well as what we should not do
- Don't limit God to your perspective and finite understanding of life


Hold on to your faith in God! He does care for you. He has not abandoned you. He loves you and is with you in every situation. So trust Him and He will carry you through

Week 1 Day 2: The Vine

John 15:1 "I am the true vine"

*Jesus (the true Vine) will be for me (the branch) all I need Him to be. He speaks, guides & works to give me divine life and vitality.*

prayer- Lord, open my mind to understand this illustration that You are the true Vine. Reveal the truth about Yourself to me.

o Jesus is the true Vine; true: that which is genuine/ authentic & not a copy; Jesus is the perfect & only heavenly Vine, all others are copies

o Come and gaze on heavenly Vine until eyes turn from all else and admire Him; come be still under the shadow of the true Vine & rest under it from the heat of the day :)

o Only Jesus, by His Holy Spirit, can help us experience Him as the true Vine

o Jesus alone can reveal Himself; He gives the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to gaze on Him, to open our hearts to receive Him

*Ask the Holy Spirit to help you come to know Jesus as the true Vine of your life & the    difference He can make

o bow down and be still, worship and wait, until the divine Word enters your heart & you feel His holy presence with you and in you

o the overshadowing of His holy love => perfect rest of knowing Vine will do all you need Him to do

Choose 1 or 2 things in the list below that you can begin to do to place yourself before Christ so that He can begin to reveal Himself to you as the true Vine

[ ] Develop a daily times that I spend with Him in private prayer
[ ] Begin to spend time praying with other believers
[ ] Take time to study His Word, asking the Holy Spirit to teach me
[ ] Learn to worship God in spirit and truth
[ ] Ask the Lord to help me learn to recognize His voice & obey Him

prayer:
Holy Lord Jesus, I pray to You. Reveal Yourself to my soul. Let the Holy Spirit, not only in thought but also in experience, allow me to know all that You, the Son of God, are to me as the true Vine.

Week 1 Day 1: Previewing the Parable of the Vine

John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for with Me you can do nothing."

*Jesus wants us to live in an abiding relationship with Him* :)

prayer: Lord Jesus, during the coming days and weeks, help me come to understand how I can have an abiding relationship w/ You that produces spiritual fruit.

o His death & resurrection brought one new relationship; union between vine & branch => deep, intimate relationship Jesus calls us to live w/ Him

o abide: to continue in, to dwell, to remains/ to stand
    - parable of the Vine shows x just this, but He wants us to solidly connect to Him
   
o illustration of vine & its branches reveal these truths & more:
    - vine & branch- same substance, same wood
    - branch grafted into vine sends fibers down into vine
    - vine send fibers into branch until they become one
    - branch needs vine in order to love, can not survive w/o sap from vine
    - vine needs branch in order to bear fruit, w/o branch vine x can produce fruit by itself

o vine & its branches experience oneness
o only hope for life found in true Vine; we as branches must choose to abide in the true Vine
o It's up to us! He will x force us- just gives us the choice
    - 2 experience relationship Jesus came to give you => choose 2 sink your life in Him & Him alone
o to abide in Him- means letting go of everything else & choosing to make Him your permanent dwelling place (home sweet home:}<3)

Abiding in Christ
1. Receiving Christ as Savior & Lord
2. Surrendering to Him
3. Living united w/ Him
4. Knowing Him
5. Being transformed
6. Knowing His commands & obeying Him
7. Loving Him & others
8. Relating to Him through prayer & His Word
9. Bearing much fruit

?  Which action is most difficult or challenging for you? #___
? Believing that Jesus is the One who is working in you to bring these to pass, which action would you most like to experience fully & why? #___

prayer-
Lord, thank You for offering me such a relationship. Open my eyes to what can be if I choose to abide in You. Make me an abiding branch of the true Vine for Your glory.

I'm right here child

Do you see Me?

Can you hear Me?

I'm right here with you

Can you feel Me?

You promised Me your heart

But did you forget?

Do you know how much I love you?

Do you know how much I miss you?

I showed you My love

I showed you My grace

I showed you My faithfulness

Yet how soon you forget

Why did you give your heart to another so quickly?

I see you weeping

I see you crying out

I know your heart is hurting

I am right here with you

Can you feel me?

I am the One who will always love you

I am the One who will never fail you

I am the One who will carry you

I am the One

Turn away from the world

Turn to Me

Please know that I am here

I am your deliverer

I am the healer of the broken

Just surrender your whole heart to Me

I will mend it

Let My love heal your hurt and your wounds

I will overwhelm you with love

I am right here child

I have plans for you

Do not worry, do not fret

Even though it hurts now

Now that it is for the best

I will guide you through it all

For I am always with you

Please remember Me

Remember how much I love you

Remember that I sacrificed my son on the cross for you

Because I loved you

Because I love you
Because I will always love you

Hope these short bible excerpts & notes will help encourage my fellow brothers & sisters in Christ in their walk with Him!

Philippians 2:12-30

my bible highlights:)
12-15 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 
so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights of the world.

notes from NASB life application bible:

- "work out your salvation"- may mean entire church was to work together to rid themselves of divisions & discord
- God has not left us alone in our struggles to do His will- wants to come alongside us & be within us to help!
     o God helps us want to obey Him
     o then gives us power to do what He wants
     o submit to God's control & let Him work, *ask God to help you want to do His will
- to be like Christ => must train ourselves to think like Christ
- to change our desires to be more like Christ we need
     o power of the indwelling spirit
     o influence of faithful Christians
     o obedience to God's Word
     o sacrificial service
- often in doing God's will we gain desire to do it
- A transformed life is an effective witness to the power of God's Word
- when you are totally committed to Christ, sacrificing to build faith of others => joyous reward
- Don't let schedule & concerns crowd out your Christian service to & love for others

-------
Many times I try to work so hard to make myself a better person. But I always come up short and grow tired and weary. I know now that I can't rely on my own strength, but need to allow God to work in me- to give me the desire to do His will & power to carry it through. God is the only one who transforms lives supernaturally. Let His love work within your heart and you'll be amazed by what He does!

This year, I want to delight in His word & meditate on His statutes day & night, night & day!

Philippians 2

my verse highlights:

2:2-5 Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, unity in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;

and do nor merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others, 

Have the attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

Being found in appearance as man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

Notes from NASB Life Application Study Bible

- Paul stressed spiritual unity- when we work together, caring for problems of others as if our own problems => demonstrate Christ's example of putting other's first => experience unity

- considering other's interests as more important than our own => links us w/ Christ- the true example of humility

- Paul encourages us to guard against any selfishness, prejudice, or jealousy that might lead to dissension

- servant's attitude- serving out of love of God & for others x out of guilt or fear; you can approach life expecting to be served or look for opportunities to serve others; lay aside our rights in order to serve others

- should develop his attitude of humility as we serve, even when x likely to get recognition for our efforts; are you selfishly clinging to your rights, or willing to serve?

Notes From What it the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert, Part 1: God the Righteous Creator

What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert, Part 1: God the Righteous Creator

2 maint points we must make clear from the get-go: God is Creator & He is holy and righteous

God the Creator

- book of Genesis opens with story of God creating the world
- all of it came about through His spoken word, all of it came from nothing
- bible tells how creation testifies to God's glory and power
Psalm 19:1

Roman 1:20
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are with out excuse.

- We are not all there is!
- God created light, the sea, land, moon and sun, birds and fishes, animals, then man & woman

Genesis 1:27
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

God created the world & created you => everything in the universe has a purpose- including human beings
- we are not an accident, x just a results of random chance, genetic mutations, gene reassortments, chromosomal accidents
- we are created, everyone of us- the result of and idea, plan & action of God himself! => meaning & responsibility to human life
- we are not autonomous *key fact to understanding gospel; we are created, made, therefore owned
- b/c God created us He has the right to tell us how to live- in garden of Eden told Adam & Eve not to eat of tree of knowledge of good & evil

Genesis 2: 16-17
The Lord God commanded the man saying, "from any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

- God x on power trip, He knows what is best for His people- gave laws to increase happiness & well-being
(gospel is response to bad news of sin: a person's rejection of God's Creator-rights over him)

GOD CREATED US, AND THEREFORE OWNS US

God the Holy and Righteous One

How to describe God's character in a few words?- loving, kind, compassionate, forgiving? yes, but also holy & righteous

Exodus 34:6-7
Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished visiting the iniquity of fathers on children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

- God's love does not cancel out His justice & righteousness
Psalm 89:14; 97:2
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.

Habakuk 1:13
Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor.

* to understand just how glorious & life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ us- we have to understand that this loving & compassionate God is also holy & righteous- He cannot overlook, ignore/ tolerate sin