Feb

Feb

   12:30 PM       REBickerstaff

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It feels like it's been a while since I've written these notes. February was a long month I guess (even though it wasn't). We moved and that is an all-encompassing feat. Our new place has a garage though, and my friend David came over and we shot this little video of a song he wrote. I'm hoping to do more of these, so look for it...

And here are my notes for the month:

BUILDING IN A DISCIPLE'S LIFE by Gene Warr
(I think this is from here, Becoming a Disciplemaker.)

•  You won't know if you've built into a life until he is away on his own
• Discipleship is a daily decision ("take up your cross daily")
• You can sometimes make a permanent impact with a life-changing statement at a life-changing moment
• You have to first clear away debris to build - Jeremiah 1:10
• Circumstances don't make a man, they reveal him
• If you see a guy straying and don't rebuke him, you will be held responsible - Ezekiel 3:20
• Rebuke is only viable in strong relationship - Proverbs 28:23
• Rebuke, reprove, exhort - using scripture
• Always rebuke on impression, not on accusation (this is super important!)
• Planting
• What does he need? how is he going to get it? How do we know he's got it?
• Who is he and where is he - 1 Thessalonians 5:14
• A man who doesn't stand for something will fall for anything
• Most men struggle with indecisiveness
• Fear
• Lack of faith ("what is not faith is sin")
• Lack of information
• Lack of convictions
• Overcoming indecisiveness
• God wants me to know His will
• Do I know it? If so, act.
• If I don't know, find it out
• Doing nothing has consequences, just like doing something
• 6 insights towards decisiveness
• Get the facts (Proverbs 23:23)
• Face the facts (Proverbs 14:8)
• Plan ahead (Proverbs 16:9 & 11:14)
• Think through (Proverbs 22:3 & 14:15)
• Make a decision (1 Corinthians 14:8 - read this one in context)
• Do it NOW (this applies to all of the above)
• "What action am I going to take" instead of "what's going to happen to me?"
• Desiring something is more than just receiving it
• Teach perserverance
• Teach him to relate tot he church
• The church will always be there
• Your own life is your greatest tool
• A spiritual man...
• Desires holiness over happiness
• More concerned with God's glory, even if it hurts him
• Takes up his cross willingly
• Sees from God's point-of-view
• Would rather die right than live wrong
• Wiling to see others succeed at his expense
• Makes judgement based on eternity instead of just time
• Would rather b useful than famous
• Possible problems
• Never letting the guy go
• Never trusting God or God in him
• Trying to help too many guys at once
• Impatience
• Copying others
• Being hard-nosed
• Operating on past experience and training instead of praying and the word
• Trying to put men in the same mold

AMBITION AND SUCCESS by Gene Warr 
I think this is particularly relevant to Christian guys pursuing a career in the arts or media

•  Success is being the person God wants you to be & achieving the goals God wants me to achieve
• It's not the nature of what we're doing that determines its spiritual content, but the origin (John 3:6)
• A ditch-digger can be more spiritual than a pastor if God called him and not the other
• Success if measured by what we are, compared to what we could be
• Finish! (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
• Money (Proverbs 30:8-9)
• Anyone can make a living, the goal is to make a life!
• Fear is the antithesis to faith
• Hindrances or Help - up to you:
• Suffering
• Defeat/ failure
• Tears/ Brokenness
• Whatever you believe God will do through you will happen (you have a blank check - what will you write on it?)
• God sets us up & motivates men - but we have to work!
• The best motivation is from within
• Don't use true statements ("who I am is more important than stuff") as an excuse to not work hard or be less than God intended me to be!
• Faith = visualizing what God will do before He does it
• Ambition can be misdirected (just like anything)
• Contentment = limiting my desires to what God wants me to have or be
• What we think today, we will be tomorrow
• God does not generally lead from something to nothing
• You need:
• Corect mindset
• Proper motivations (spiritual motivation comes from within)
• Excitement ("enthusiasm" means "God in you" & it's contagious)
• 6 sources
• Needed
• Useable
• Winning team
• Greater than (God over me)
• Expectation
• Goal setting/ reaching
• Being needed: if someone needs help, I'm needed (which means you are always needed)
• Just need to be one step ahead
• God wants you here or you would have been dead by now
• Matthew 9:37-38
• No one who gets equipped with the word of God doesn't get used
• Being usable:
• One purpose in life
• Has removed every hindrance
• Placed himself at God's disposal
• Learned how to prevail in prayer
• Student of the Bible
• Has vital message to a lost world
• Man of faith, expects results
• Works under the Holy Spirit
• Write a life goal, then specific goals
• Life, long range, personal, family, ministry, career
• Learn to say "no" & prioritize
• Pray over goals
• Worth ambitions:
• Desire to be a witness
• Desire to influence society
• esire to be used by God
• Desire to lead spiritually
• Desire to make best use of gifts
• Success is not self-confidence
• Everything is from God
• A person who is good at something should be better at it because he has Jesus!
• Strong men have goals, weak men have wishes!

HERE IS MORE FROM THIS GENE WARR

•  Revival takes:
• Honest confession
• Genuine repentance (see below for a Jewish explanation of repentance)
• Silence
• Strong drive
• Clear objective
• Faith in the face of difficulty
• Enthusiasm
• Part of persistence is seeing the invisible, believing the incredible, attempting the impossible, patience
• Part of our goal is a "true heart and skillful hands"
• Here is a great wheel illustration that goes with this:

• Spiritual Maturity:
• Reliability
• Ability to think through
• Self-control
• Decisiveness (see above)
• Servant attitude
• Stability
• Gets along with others
• Team man, teachable, peacemaker, submissing

 
 HE WENT TO THE SYNAGOGUE by Ray Vander Laan
A two-part series from this website, which has TONS of good material on it.

• "Synangogue" was originally not a building, but a group of people
• A Little temple
• "Living sacrifice" is from study of the word and obedience
• Synagogue is sunonymous with community
• Fun, study, social - everything
• God-fearing gentiles could go to the synagogue, but not the temple
• Synagogue is a community of people, not an organization of professionals
• Repentance happens in 3 steps in the Jewish mind:
• Sudden realization of my sin/ walking away from God
• Turning to face God
• Deliberate plan to begin walking towards God
• When the bible speaks about the "temple of the Holy Spirit," it is always plural
• "You" (plural) are a "temple" (singular)

BEING A DISCIPLE by Ray Vander Laan

• You cannot be a disciple alone!
• Find others who are passionate about being like Jesus
• You will be asked to make other disciples (Jesus' 12 had 3 years before doing this)
• It's all about scripture (the text)

I also started listening to this, which was recommended by a friend:

• Most marital problems are because the guy's character isn't great and his lady isn't attracted to it
• Your wife must be your standard of beauty.

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