It's Not My Fault

DHARIUS DANIELS SERMON NOTES:

1. We cannot improve what we will not own.

2. We cannot adjust what we keep ignoring.

3. We cannot catch blessings, if we keep casting blame.

In order for us to experience evolution, we need to develop the skill of discerning the difference between a reason and an excuse. Just because the reason is real, doesn’t mean the excuse is right. The reason says something about the situation. The excuse says something about me.

Some helplessness is learned. A mental paradigm where a person sees themselves as powerless, therefore, their welfare and wellbeing is at the mercy of what happens to them. Their circumstances become sovereign, instead of their savior being sovereign.

To live well, you gotta live with boundaries. It’s not God restricting them, it’s God protecting them.

Human beings become their best, in the context of accountability. If you don’t inspect what you expect, what you expect will become suspect.

I would not link up long term with anybody that does not believe in accountability. God cannot teach anybody anything, who thinks they already know everything.

God is teaching us how to confront: when you ask a question, you already know the answer to, it helps you see how many problems you really have.

An orientation toward excuses since Adam & Eve.

We must perceive our part, and overcome our excuses.

Leprosy is a metaphor for our sin nature. You don’t pick your strengths and you don’t pick your weaknesses.

Our reasons to be here don’t have to become the excuses that cause me to stay in this condition. I won’t die here!

2 Kings 7:5-8 MSG

What story are you telling yourself when you hear the sound?

3 Lessons to learn from the lepers:

1. At some point, they stopped the sulking.

   1. Sulking is human, and at times, it’s an appropriate responses, because it can be grieve. It’s okay to grieve.

   2. As long as I’m sulking, I’m not emotionally sober.

   3. The most under-appreciated life-skill: decision-making. Some of the most spiritual people, make some of the worst decisions. Whenever God doesn’t give me an answer, He wants me to use wisdom!

2. They understood the power of partnership.

   1. God’s math is multiplication, not addition.

   2. When you partner, your results are multiplied.

   3. Do you have wise counsel in your circle? They can only mentor you and advise you, to the degree that you expose yourself.

3. They took the initiative for improvement.

   1. Nobody came to get them where they were, they had to go to where help was.

   2. How long are you gonna wait for someone to come save you? What if God meets you on your way up?

   3. The grave wasn’t Jesus’ fault, but the resurrection was his responsibility!

It’s not my fault, but it is my responsibility.

DISCUSSION:

• Proverbs 28:13 “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”

  • What do you think this verse means, and how can you apply it better in your life?

• Romans 2:1 “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.”

  • What do you think this verse means, and do you struggle with passing judgement on others?

• Do you struggle to let others help you? What does God’s Word say about that?

• Are you a sulker? How does that affect your decision-making?

• What are some strategies you use to stay emotionally sober?

STUDY AT HOME:

Read:

• Genesis 3

• Luke 17:11-19

• 2 Kings 7:5-8

Can you think of another place in the Bible where we are instructed to take responsibility for our actions?

Pray Like Jesus

Did you know Jesus gave us an outline on how to pray? Even if you weren’t raised in the church you have probably heard the Lord’s prayer, but did you know it wasn’t meant to JUST be recited? It was mean to be an outline for you to use daily. 

Matthew 6:5-14  5“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.’

14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

So let’s break this down and make it a little easier to understand. 

1. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name

   1. The first priority is to recognize WHO god is. 

   2. Jason preached on recognizing God as KING (from this same prayer). We should also recognize him as our FATHER. Being friends with the king can bring many blessings, but it can also be dangerous if you become complacent…this is why it is followed up with “hallowed be your name.” Yes he is our Father, but he is also our righteous and perfect king, and needs to be respected as such

2.  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

   1. Ask God to carry out his will above your own. 

      1. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 

      2. Trust in Him, his plans, and ask for his will to be carried out in all things. 

3. Give us today our daily bread. 

   1. Everyone has at least seen this line…it’s on every fall decoration in Walmart right now. We look at bread today as an “extra” or in some cases part of a cheat-meal. (Ohhhh delicious carbs), but in biblical times it was looked at more of a necessity. “Give us this day our daily bread” mean to ask God for what you NEED, not what you want. It’s not “give us today our daily milk and honey”

   2. ***This is not to say God doesn’t want to give you what you want as long as it lines up with his word***

      1. Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

      2. Psalm 37:4 “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

   3. What it does mean is to ask for what you need as a priority over what you want. 

4. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

   1. Forgiveness is mentioned 150 times in the NIV Bible. The key here isn’t just to ask for forgiveness, it is also focusing on the importance of forgiving others and to ask for God’s help doing so. 

5. 13 And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.” 

   1. Break those chains daily! You will be tempted to sin multiple times a day. Not only is it ok to ask for help avoiding those temptations, but God WANTS you to ask for his help overcoming them.

DISCUSSION:

1. What kinds of things do you pray for?

2. Would you be comfortable praying out loud in a group like this? Why or why not?

3. Can you think of other times prayer is modeled for us in the Bible?

4. How often, do you think, is the ideal amount of times to pray through the day?

STUDY AT HOME:

Read Luke 11 

1. What about your prayer life has to change because of this passage?

1. Practice! The more you use this template the easier it will become. Let us know how it goes this week.

Faith or Fear?

We’ve been talking about the Kingdom of God in this new FV sermon series, “Kingdom Come”, and as I study more and more in preparation for this series, I’ve been realizing that the implications of these teachings are BOTH for now, and for the future. As Christians, everything we do is both for now, and then.

Today, we’re going to watch a Hillsong Teaching from Robby Lewis, campus pastor for Hillsong London, called “Kingdom”. (You do have to have a subscription for this video, but the first 30 days are free!)

Candace’s Notes

Law-based mindset, vs a Gospel-based mindset

1 Corinthians 15:1-5, 12-28 (The Kingdom New Testament)

• 1 Corinthians 15 (NLT)

The Corinthian People Are:

1. Arrogant

2. Divisive behavior

3. Self-serving agenda

4. Advancement of the self over the church & Gospel

5. Elevation of self over everyone else

The word Gospel = an event, happening in a larger context, that will change the future, as a result, everything now is changed.

Board Illustration

• The board represents God, even though it breaks down because God has no edges.

• Time exists within God

• At the beginning, God creates. The last thing he creates, is humans. Image bearers.

• Sin = selfishness. We had power over the earth, so earth fell with us.

• We’re headed toward wrath, unless someone does something. 

• The Gospel is an event that happened that changes the story

On the cross, Jesus overthrew the Kingdom of Man---sin, death, decay, corruption, pain

Because you don’t believe in the resurrection:

1. The messiah has not been raised

2. You are still in your sins

3. Your faith is futile

4. Death is the end

5. There is no hope in a future life, let alone in the present one.

Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the son of God?” because one of Caesar's titles was “son of God”.

The Enlightenment removed God from the top, and put the self on the top. 

————————————————————————

For me, watching this sermon brought up a lot of thoughts! Thoughts that I may have grown up thinking, but haven’t remembered in a long time. Thoughts of magical, sparkly kingdoms (see Revelation 21-22), and Jesus on a throne. Thoughts of resurrections and graveyard-watching (long story!), and futuristic stuff.

But it also brings up the very practical. Because we’re not in that world yet, we still have to live in the here and now, navigating a world that is unfair, seemingly cruel, and very dark. This weekend, we’re going to look at how to bring His Kingdom into the here & now, but for today, let’s go a little deeper into some of these concepts.

To go deeper:

• The AG 16 Fundamental Truths with Bible references (the last 4 pertain to the End Times)

• The article about not making decisions based on fear

• Steven Furtick Clip: Faith or Fear, One Has to Win

• 1 John 2 Commentary (I use commentaries a lot in my studies of the Word! They always help me think outside the box.)

• An article outside of our theological circles, Beyond the Millennium

DISCUSSION:

• How do we live IN the world, but not of it?

• Do you think you make more decisions out of fear, or faith?

• What questions do you have about the “End Times” or the book of Revelation?

STUDY AT HOME:

• Read Revelations 21-22

  • What questions do you have about the book of Revelation?

• Read the commentary linked above (or handed out in class), 1 John 2 Commentary.

  • How do you live out “living in the world, but not of it”?

• Read 1 Corinthians 15

  • If you really feel like challenging yourself: What does 1 Corinthians 15:29 mean?

  • What does this chapter mean for my life?

Drowning in Doubt

Matthew 14:29-31

God wants change…change means to make different. But God doesn’t just make it different, God makes it better. He doesn’t make the broken different, He makes them whole. The sick, healed. The bound, free.

It’s not just about walking, it’s about seeing. In order to walk right, I gotta see right.

Numbers 13

They didn’t lose to the giants out there, they lost to the grasshopper in them. The victim mentality, the loser mentality.

You walk on what other people drown in. You are managing what other people are overwhelmed by. You are a water walker!

There are some places only exceptions can go…there is a level for the special. There is an arena for the unique. To get there, you have to be willing to step out of, what everybody else is sitting in. You must be willing to take another route. You cannot live being in love with what you got you where you were. What got you HERE, can’t always get you THERE.

You must be willing to be the OTHER. And you must be willing to be the ONLY. You wanna be special and common at the same time. If you have a problem with my only-ness, take it up with my supervisor.

As he sunk, Jesus IMMEDIATELY reach out his hand. Maybe Jesus wasn’t trying to save Peter’s life, but something else. Maybe Jesus was trying to save Peter’s confidence.

Out of all the things that Jesus could have critiqued, he didn’t critique the water or the wind. Faith was the factor. You can’t control the wind. Win anyway. Jesus did not correct the wind or the waves, he corrected the faith. Don’t misdiagnose your obstacle. Somebody’s walking in what you’re blaming for your stagnation. You didn’t drown because of water, you about to drown because of doubt. If faith had been present, the water wouldn’t have been an issue. Could it be that we’re drowning in water, trying to fix the water, when Jesus is trying to fix the faith? FAITH is foundational.

Faith is believing that, and behaving like, God is telling the truth. James 2:17-19. Faith produces optimism, but optimism is not faith. Peter’s faith was just underdeveloped faith. It was faith to get him out of the boat, but not faith to keep him on top of the water. It’s one thing not to go back when you can’t, it’s another, when you can still see the boat.

You cannot will yourself into faith. You can’t just decide. Faith is a process. The decision you make is to do the things that bring faith. You can’t live today, off yesterday’s faith. Faith is like a float and it will float away if you don’t hang onto it.

3 Things We Have To Know To BUILD FAITH THAT IS KEPT:

1. Who God is.

   1. Matthew 14:28. Peter called him “Lord”.

   2. When some people say they know God, they just know His name. When you are in need of provision, the word “God” is not enough. Some of us know Jehovah Jireh!! Just knowing that He exists, doesn’t help you in crisis. He is Emmanuel — He is with us.

2. What God said.

   1. Matthew 14:29. Peter didn’t go until Jesus said come.

   2. You gotta know what truth is, if you’re going to believe that God is telling the truth.

   3. Your faith, your conviction, rests on whether or not God is a truth-teller.

   4. Numbers 23:19-20

   5. My faith is built on the truth, not the facts! The Word of God is like a car wash!

3. What God did. Jesus asks him why he doubted.

   1. Faith is not a denial of reality, it believes God to change it. What have you seen God do? Strong faith is tied to a strong memory. Not remembering everything, it’s remembering the right things. Sometimes that requires relabeling things that you mislabeled when you were at a different place in your spiritual journey.

Maybe we should stop acting like faith is illogical, ‘cause maybe DOUBT is. Maybe when you start looking at the evidence of faith in your life, you have more reason to BELIEVE than to doubt!

DISCUSSION:

1. After hearing this sermon, would you consider yourself a person of little (underdeveloped) faith, or big (developed) faith?

2. Pastor Dharius said, “You cannot will yourself into faith. You can’t just decide. Faith is a process.” What has that process looked like so far in your life?

STUDY AT HOME:

1. Matthew 14

   1. Verse 13: Why do you think Jesus went to be alone? Put yourself in that moment, really try to think about what emotions he might have been feeling…what that conversation between him and his Father might have been…why he needed to be away, even from the the disciples.

   2. He didn’t get to be alone though, because the people followed Him, and He had compassion on them. In your moments of anguish or grief or anger, do you have compassion?

2. James 2

   1. What does verse 12 mean?

   2. What does verse 15-17 mean?

3. If you missed Eran Holt’s message at Heart & Soul on September 29th, give it a listen here (starts around minute 28).

   1. Candace’s notes on the message are found here.

   2. What did you find most interesting about this message?

   3. What did you find most helpful about this message? What will it help you to do?

Wrestle Until You Win

NOTES FROM THE SERMON:

Genesis 32:24-28

You are a wrestler - what are you wrestling with?

Many are wrestling with rejection.

• “Rejection”, Latin roots = to throw backwards

• It’s a wound to the soul. Soul wounds are different types of wounds because the bleeding is invisible.

Jeremiah 6:14 - you are putting bandaids on something that needs stitches.

• Wounds that are not cared for properly can lead to infection.

• Rejection can lead to infections.

• Some people—timidity isn’t their identity, it’s an infection.

  • apathy, people-pleasing, approval-addiction

• Your history does not have to be your destiny! What has happened to you, does not determine what can happen for you!

• God wants to introduce you and me, to a you and me, we haven’t met yet!

  • stronger, more focused, wiser

• That becomes unlikely and sometimes impossible, when we don’t wrestle to win.

Wrestling is unpredictable.

• Jacob’s story is inundated with rejection. His father blatantly shows favoritism toward his brother. All rejection isn’t created equal.

• Sometimes you feel like you’re on top of things, and sometimes the things are on top of you.

And Jacob was left alone, and he wrestled.

• All isolation isn’t evil.

• There are times when God uses isolation for our transformation. An opportunity to do some soul-searching.

• In vs 24, he thinks it’s one thing. In vs 28, he sees it’s God.

  • God doesn’t always show up looking like God.

  • Sometimes God shows up opening doors….sometimes God also shows up closing them.

  • He is the same, and GOOD, in both.

• Could it be that Jacob was also wrestling with himself?

I will not let you go until you bless me.

• I will not stop putting forth my best effort, until I become my best self.

• There are times that we all suffer from “fate fatigue” and we wanna give up on US.

• His request was not to receive something, his request was to become someone.

• There was a place in him that was wounded so deep, that noTHING had been able to fix.

The wrestler always had an advantage when he knew the other’s moves:

1. Rejection can be a result of people’s vision, not your value.

   1. The issue is not always you and I. Sometimes the issue is other people’s eyes. You’ve been created in the image of God. Just because they can’t see value, doesn’t mean it’s not there.

2. Rejection can be a result of people’s issues, not yours.

   1. Matthew 7:1-5.

3. Rejection is God’s direction.

   1. “I called it unfair then, I call it God now.”

   2. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. If you can make it through the night, morning is coming for you!

   3. It’s a fixed fight, and you will win if you don’t quit.

DISCUSSION:

1. Read Matthew 7:1-5. Do you think we can ever really get rid of the log in our own eye? What do you think Jesus was trying to say here?

2. If you began to think of your own hardships in your life as God’s redirection instead of rejection, how do you think that would change things?

3. Do you have regular times of soul-searching in your life? How do you do it?

STUDY AT HOME:

1. Genesis 32

   1. Notice what Jacob does when threatened (or at least, when scared) in verse 9. What promises do you remind yourself—and God of—when you feel threatened? Make a list.

   2. Notice that Jacob used wisdom next, verses 13-21. Think about any hardships you’re facing right now. What might change if you asked God for wisdom?

   3. Some fights change you, verse 28. Can you envision what positive things might come out of the hardships you are facing right now?

2. Jeremiah 6:14

   1. Read this verse in context, meaning, read the rest of Jeremiah 6. If you need help understanding Jeremiah, watch this video.

   2. What do you think would give the people actual peace, instead of superficial treatments? What would give you actual peace?