Category: Thursday Greenhouse Gathering

The War In Your Mind

2 Corinthians 10:3-5   Lamentations 3:19-23

Your  LIFE is always moving in the DIRECTION  of your STRONGEST THOUGHTS

Paul was a master in his thoughts. But as he grew in the Lord he realized the importance of his thoughts. Take this Thought Audit to see where your thoughts are leading you:

Worried              1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10          Peaceful
Negative             1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10          Positive
Worldly               1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10         Eternal

Take Away
How do you personally battle negative thinking? What have you found that works?

What can you change, or start, to allow God to renew your mind?

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Advent Joy

Old Testament: Simchah = exceeding joy
Psalm 105:43; Isaiah 51:11; Psalm 126

New Testament: Carah = source of joy
Luke 2:10

Take Away
In what ways have you been able to find joy in the trials you’ve endured?

Do you feel more loved by God because he makes much of you, or because he enables you to make much of him?

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Advent Hope

Old Testament: Yakhal= To Wait for
Isaiah 8:17, Job 32:6

Old Testament: Qavah = tension to wait for something that is happening
Isaiah 40:31, Psalm 39:7, Psalm 130:5-7

New Testament: Elpis = expectation of eternal salvation
1 Peter 1:3; Romans 15:13

Take Away
Where are my doubts (feeling, failure and facts) outweighing my hope in Jesus?

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Advent Peace

 

• Old Testament = Shalom: Completeness & Wholeness, Soundness
  (Isaiah 9:6, Malachi 3:16, Psalm 139:16, Psalm 56:8)
• New Testament = Eirene: to join
  (Ephesians 2:14-15)

Take Away:
Where Are you living entitled? How will you pursue an attitude of Thankfulness?

What are some specific habits you want to form in order to replace worry with trust in God and His truth?

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“Thankful”

It seems today that complaining has become an art form instead of something that should be avoided at all costs. We often find our comfort in all that is wrong instead of celebrating what is right. What if we changed our perspective from lack to overflowing thanksgiving?

Luke 17:11-18  Leviticus 13:45-46

3 Ways To Have an Attitude of Thankfulness:

• EVERY GOOD THING I HAVE COMES FROM GOD
  • God is a giver of good things. His character is nothing but good…He can’t help but to be good. God has given you health to bless you, friends to love you and life to enjoy!
• WHAT I WANT WILL NOT ROB ME OF WHAT I HAVE
  • Thankfulness turns what I have into enough.
• I’LL TURN EVERY BLESSING I HAVE INTO PRAISE
  • I should share every blessing I have…otherwise I keep it and it turns to pride. What if everything I had was lost every night? Would I be grateful for what I get to have and praise God for what He has blessed me with?

Take Away:
Where Are you living entitled? How will you pursue an attitude of Thankfulness?

List 5 blessings out. How can you turn those into praise?

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Jude

We spend a lot of our time, now more than ever trying to find the truth. There are so many people who are telling us what truth is to us that we accept one instead of finding it for ourselves. This has translated into the Church in Jude’s, the younger brother of Jesus, time & it still happens today

Jude

• CONTEND FOR THE FAITH (v.1-3)
  • James starts his letter wanting to talk about salvation…but he is so burdened that what he sees in the Church is not salvation but something short of it. James saw his brother murdered for the sins of the world and the world has tried to take the power away from the Cross. The gift of life through faith in Christ had been perverted and James is reminding the Church to fight for the Truth (not what someone preaches…but the Truth that is Jesus). This faith is Christ is worth fighting for, Jesus even died for us to have it, not to sit back & let it sway with the wind. When we share the Truth it sets others free…when we share a version of the truth it keeps others in bondage.
• FALSE TEACHER (v.4-16)
  • Jude dives in here with the False Teachers of the Church (Paul does the same in Romans 6 & 1 Corinthians 6). We would expect any contention with the Truth of our faith to come from outside of the Church but it actually comes from within. That’s why Jude points out the False Teacher and goes on to tell of the Judgement of the False Teacher, the False Teacher’s Rejection of Authority and the Selfishness of the False Teacher. Jude points this out because you cannot share something that you don’t have…the false teacher tries to share something they don’t have to convince God into saving them instead of receiving the free gift of Salvation from Christ’s by His death, burial and resurrection.
• FOUNDATIONAL FAITH (v. 17-25)
  • James ends his letter talking about what it means to follow Christ and contend for the faith (v.22-23). We are to come together and work as one, study God’s Word together, Pray together, worship together and grow together. We are all made to have Christian Community to help us live the life lived on the Rock that is Christ vs. the sand that is the world.

It is not known what Church(es) Jude’s letter is written to at the time but it’s evident it is written to us as the Church today. Jude helps us navigate doctrine that can sway us by anchoring us to the Truth, that is Christ, that is not moved.

Take Away:

WhatDoes Contend for the Faith Mean to You? How are You Sharing it?

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James 5

Remember growing up when you had to work on a project together as a team! At first it was shaky but then as you grew together you were able to do so much more than you thought you could ever do? That’s how James leaves us…though he goes about it a little different way than Paul with encouragement and instead with be ready!

James 5

• TREASURE
  • This is how we live out the Kingdom mentality! How we treat all that we have in respect to others is what makes the love of God show and bring His name fame. We often forget when we are in a leadership position that we are co-laborers not oppressors. Oppressors rob the people they lead from being part of the blessing God has for them…as followers of Christ we aren’t to rob others of God but instead give them more of Him! We do that by working everything He puts in our hands to the benefit of others not ourselves…that’s what team is all about!
• PERSEVERANCE
  • Our world is so full of instant that we even have multiple news cycles per day…don’t get me wrong instant is pretty cool and it’s an AMAZING time to be alive, but when we get so caught up in instant that we don’t trust the process we miss out on the life we were made to live. When James is writing this the Church thinks Jesus’ Return is imminent any day (which we seem to have forgotten in our time) and they aren’t wasting time here on earth but they understand that having an instant mentality makes them miss the season they are in—even if it’s suffering! They trust the process…so much so that they aren’t to judge those (even those who oppress them) but should only give a “yes” or “no”! James uses Job to remind us that in due season we will reap the harvest but in the meantime we are to sow the seeds of faith and water them with hope!
• PRAYER
  • This is the story we all stand in on! We have been pursued by God from the beginning…even in our wandering He still pursues us. He is so in love with us that He gave everything just for the opportunity to have a relationship with Him. Prayer is a way we get to communicate with God and the way we have purposeful prayer over aimless talk is to be at right standing with God (that means we approach Him with confession and repentance). When we are in right standing with God we get to experience Him like never before and get to experience His answer to our prayers (yes, no and maybe) as opposed to treating Him like a genie in a bottle.

Take Away:

How are you storing your treasure?

How can you prayer bring power in your life?

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James 4

 

We are constantly in need and we lack so many things without God. Yet, many times our pride gets in the way of asking our closest friends for help…must less God who supplies all that we need! Often when we reach out for help it’s with the wrong heart and because we didn’t invite God in from the begging…and that’s what can get us in the worst of situations. Let’s dive into how James shows us to reach out to God in our plans from the beginning!

James 4

• HUMILITY
  • This is the fruit of the Spirit and often one of the hardest to cultivate. In our inflated view of our self society (pride) it’s very hard to accurately have the right view of our self (humility). As a person who has struggled with a Pharisee heart I’ve learned there are 3 ways to see if I’m acted out of humility over pride:
    • My Willingness to Listen
    • Attitude towards Serving
    • Responsiveness to being overlooked
  • When I act out of humility I am acting in submission to what God has made me to be…submission is a daily choice (God gives us free will to make that choice). There is a story in Luke 18 about the prideful and humble going to pray and Jesus tells the prideful will be humbled and the humble will be exalted!
• DEPENDENCE
  • This takes us back all the way to the first sin in the Garden of Eden when we stepped out of the authority of God and into self-reliance. The lies the devil told us then still fight us today and our continual rely on self attitude is what the American Dream is about. The biggest misconception here is that we don’t have to plan anything when we have God…but that it’s true…we seek God’s will then we plan our steps in obedience. We have to understand we are totally dependent on Him in all we do but we aren’t lazy in trying to do it…we work with all that we’ve got! We have to trust that God knows the end from the beginning instead of thinking we are the beginning and He can figure out the end! That’s what doing right when we know what is right is all about (even when it is uncomfortable)!

Take Away:
How can we love people, love the truth, yet at the same time not be judgmental towards others?

Is there something specific that God is currently speaking to you about doing?

Interested in More About Our Thursday Greenhouse Gathering: CLICK HERE
Find Out How You Play a Part to #JoinSpartanburg: CLICK HERE

Check Out The Vine Church HERE: